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As Gerry Brownlee works on the Government's recovery plan for Christchurch, he is also having to deal with his own badly damaged house.
Mr Brownlee, the MP for Ilam, was appointed the Government minister overseeing the city's recovery after last week's 7.1 magnitude earthquake.
Neighbours says his two-storey weatherboard house in Fendalton was severely hit by the quake, but Mr Brownlee says the damage is not as bad as that suffered by others.
"We suffered some damage, but we are waiting in line like everyone else for the processes to fall into place," he said yesterday.
The house is fenced off and neighbours say he has been there tidying up, in between ministerial duties.
"He's been hit like everyone else. It's sad. He was about to renovate his house," said a neighbour, who did not want to be named.
"We've seen him more than usual, because he's been out here sorting things out."
Mr Brownlee's house is one of four on the riverbank street that have been devastated, and locals expect at least some will have to be demolished.
There are cracks along many driveways, and holes in the street.
Another resident said her house had become uninhabitable.
Its walls were pulling apart and the foundations were warped.
Her family have moved out, leaving a pile of bricks from a fallen chimney, and ongoing building work inside the house.
"I don't know how long it will take to get back to normal. We're sort of in and out at the moment," she said.
Mr Brownlee has not mentioned his own troubles publicly, saying it would distract from his job to aid the city's recovery.
Yesterday, he told TVNZ's Q+A: "Oh I've been in for a look. I'm not as bad as many others."
Neighbour James Whelan, whose home escaped with small cracks in its foundations, praised Mr Brownlee.
"Gerry did a great job not mentioning his house. He never brought it up. I have respect and admiration for him for that."
Two doors down from Mr Brownlee, Greg Urquhart said he would not give up on getting his house repaired until geotechnical engineers had inspected the ground.
The front of his house was not safe, so he had moved his family into the back rooms.
"At the end of the day, nobody knows. But we're not as bad as the Bexleys of the world," he said, referring to a very badly affected area.
