Struggling teen couple find a home

A teenage couple who had a week left to live in their flat and were contemplating sleeping in their car have been offered a place by another young Aucklander willing to give them a chance.

They had been struggling to find a new place because at 17, Brittney Warman found no landlord was willing to let her sign a lease and her partner, Gareth Johnson, 18, had a bad credit history.

However, after the Herald's story last week the couple are now moving from their former flat in Te Atatu to one in Glen Eden.

Fraser Murphy, 22, said he met with the couple over coffee and after getting to know them got them to sign a rental agreement on the spot.

"Life is all about risk and you can't judge a book by a cover in our day and age," he said. "Judging everyone on first appearance, it's not right.

"We just need to give everyone a chance to prove themselves and their worth."

The couple would be moving into a sleep-out on the property Murphy, an apprentice plumber was currently renting for $300/week.

Brittney Warman, 17, and her partner Gareth Johnson, 18. Photo / Supplied

"It's a shame that no-one has given them a chance to prove their worth, because they are actually really good people," Murphy said. "They have just been dealt a bad hand."

Warman said she was "really, really happy" that Murphy had offered them a place to stay.

"He was a nice person and him and Gareth got along really well."

Following last week's article's publication, Warman said she was aware of a lot of the criticism from people who wrote them off as teens who had made poor choices without even getting to know them.

Her message: "Give us a chance, we aren't all ratbags, some of us have worked hard to get where we are and the world is not giving us a chance."

Warman said she had spoken out not just out of desperation for her own circumstances, but to help others who might be in a similar situation.

She said many teenagers were in a similar situation where they had to act as adults but had few rights.

A Ministry of Social Development spokesman said it was not uncommon for young people to find the "practicalities of starting out in life a challenge".

"Housing options can sometimes be limited and may involve staying with family or friends or sharing a house or flat with others."