Where living in a garage is normal

By JOSIE CLARKE

Bundled up on a mattress on the damp concrete floor of a garage, a 9-month-old baby lies sleeping.

It is a miserable day. The rain is pouring down and the sliding door is wide open.

Water drips through holes in the corrugated iron roof and along wooden beams. A fan heater sits unplugged on one of several shabby chairs lining the walls.

The tenants have done their best to make the room comfortable. Cotton rugs cover the floor and tapa cloths and pencil sketches decorate the walls.

The child's parents, who arrived in Otara from Samoa a year ago and speak little English, emerge from the house on the property and greet us warmly.

They are happy to talk, but are concerned about being identified for fear of angering the property owner. They explain that they lived in the sitting room until three months ago when the house became too crowded.

They pay $100 a week rent when they can afford it. The child's father is a 23-year-old shift worker and his wife, aged 21, is expecting another baby.

"That's why we are looking for a house ... somewhere safe for my kids," she says.

And now that winter is here, the garage is cold, "too cold."

They have not lived in New Zealand for the two years necessary to qualify for assistance from Housing New Zealand, but are on the waiting list for emergency accommodation at the Monte Cecilia House Trust.

The plight of an Auckland family of six living in a garage made headlines this week when Henderson landlords Aik Guan Law and his wife, Kim Lan Lai, were fined $40,500 for allowing tenants to live in squalid conditions.

They are considering appealing against the conviction and fine.

Publicity over the case of the Murphy family, who spent four years in the rat-infested garage, has highlighted the substandard conditions some Aucklanders will put up with to save money.

The Murphys moved out of the garage in July last year, into a comfortable weatherboard house with a large backyard.

But a drive around Otara streets found that garages set up as living rooms were everywhere.

Ian Godfrey, the Manukau City Council's technical officer, building, told the Herald this week that he suspected cases such as the Murphys' could be the tip of the iceberg in South Auckland.

"In terms of the socio-economic groups from the Manukau area with extended families and houses not big enough ... they are making extra living space in garages."

A garage on Bairds Rd contains an immaculately made bed, table and eight chairs, a small kitchen set-up with a microwave and electric jug, and a makeshift wardrobe with a tidy pile of suitcases. Curtains cover the windows and lace curtain material is stapled over the beams.

A woman on the property refused to talk to the Herald, but said people slept in the garage only if there was a party in the house.

Around the corner in Rapson Rd, every garage on the street except one is occupied, according to resident Nia Faatiu.

At least 10 people lived in her parents' three-bedroom house and her mother and father preferred sleeping in the garage, she said. The children liked "sleeping out," but were not allowed if the weather was too cold.

The garage, which is filled with family photos and toys, has seating for at least 12 people and also has a television, video, stereo and fan heater.

The bedroom area is behind a curtain partition.

She said most garages were used for family members who initially intended to find a home of their own.

"They say as soon as they get a house they will go, but they don't because it's cheaper."

Bob De Leur, Auckland City Council team leader, building, said garages generally did not meet minimum standards required for habitable accommodation.

Dwellings required insulation and lining on walls, damp-proofing underneath concrete floors and minimum ventilation.

The council dealt with cases as they arose, but took a dim view of landlords who rented garages.

He said there were probably many of them out there, and to evict people who had nowhere else to go, "is probably a bit severe."