By GEOFF CUMMING
Michael Holland and Ana Cullen admit pride is partly why they are camped in the living room of their three-bedroom house with seven of their nine children.
For seven years, this Brady Bunch family have squeezed into the Te Atatu home of Ana's diabetic mother, who lives in
the converted garage. There's Alex, 13, Michael, 11, Jordan, 10, Sarah, 8, Natasha, 7, Kyle, 6, Cameron, 4, Terry, 2, and Thomas, 5 months.
In April, a fire in the main bedroom of the uninsured house forced the couple to sleep in the lounge, where the seven youngest share double bunks.
Alex and Michael are in one bedroom. The third is used for storage because it is too damp.
The 1960s weatherboard house is uninsulated and was built without building paper, says Mr Holland. The windows need fixing before they can get insurance but there's no budget.
"The children have health issues because there's no insulation. When we had them in the bedroom they got croup and asthma."
The couple put everything into meeting their children's needs but the close confinement ensures recurring skin infections and respiratory illnesses.
They share an unemployment benefit and receive an accommodation supplement, but the $280 they pay to live there takes nearly half their income.
After the garage flooded in winter, Mr Holland says the mother-in-law has had enough and wants to sell.
"There's no way we can afford to go out renting - for us it would cost $350 to $400 a week."
A Child Poverty Action Group report this week claims 400,000 New Zealanders, half of them children, are struggling in substandard, overcrowded conditions because of unaffordable housing costs. The restoration of income-related rents has done nothing for 166,000 households renting in the private sector.
Mr Holland, who is paying off a large dental bill, says that with school expenses mounting, the family are "in a real tight jam". Upkeep and maintenance costs on the house are "out of our league".
"I love work - I'm an excellent worker. But it's hard to find work which pays enough without working 40 or 50 hours and you just can't do that with nine children. Coming home at seven or eight puts too much pressure on the whole relationship.
"We've tried to be independent and we didn't want to get help.
"We budget. We make meals spread ... We don't like to abuse the system but we have had to go down for the odd food grant. People say we shouldn't have so many kids, but we have. We've accepted it's about time we got some help."
After the fire, the couple approached Housing New Zealand for a state house. But the loss of birth certificates and other papers in the fire has complicated their application.
"We had to pay $300 to get new ones. We could be three years on a waiting list. A lot of people are worse off than us."
By GEOFF CUMMING
Michael Holland and Ana Cullen admit pride is partly why they are camped in the living room of their three-bedroom house with seven of their nine children.
For seven years, this Brady Bunch family have squeezed into the Te Atatu home of Ana's diabetic mother, who lives in
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