Woman found dead in car in Remuera told helpers she had no family

The woman who was found dead in a car in the Auckland suburb of Remuera told those who tried to help her she did not have any family.

She and her vehicle were so well kept that neighbours only realised she was living inside it when they spotted her wiping the car's windows from the inside because of the condensation that had built up.

Emergency services were called to St Vincent Ave yesterday morning after reports that the body of a woman, thought to be in her 70s, was found in a car.

Now a review is underway by the Auckland Council after staff wrongly classed the woman living in a car on the street as a freedom camper, despite concerns raised by members of the public that she was homeless and would not survive the winter.

A resident whose family tried several times to help the woman - by contacting the council and police - described with sadness how she and other family members had tried to engage with her on several occasions.

She would not usually say anything back to them, the resident said, only choosing to nod or shake her head in response to their questions.

When they tried to ask her if she had any family, she indicated she did not.

"At times, she'd ignore us. She'd just stay in the back seat."

The resident's father, Paul, spoke to Newstalk ZB's Kerre McIvor after seeing comments online criticising the family and others for not doing more to help, such as physically removing the woman from the car.

"Both my daughter, her sons, her partner and I have tried to talk to this lady during the last couple of months.

"My daughter's partner was the most successful. At about two weeks ago, he had had a conversation with the lady. He had said: 'What can we do? Who can we call to help you?'

"And she declined all assistance," he said.

Paul described how the woman took very good care of the vehicle, acknowledging it did not look as if it had not moved from the same spot for months.

The woman also took care of her appearance and it took them a while to realise she was in her older years.

"She dressed in a floppy sunhat and a Covid mask and an overcoat with the collars pulled up - you couldn't tell just who she was."

It is understood the woman visited the Remuera Library just around the corner on a regular basis to use the bathroom facilities.

In a statement, Auckland Council Head of Community Delivery Central/East, Kevin Marriott said: "Out of respect for her recent and sad passing, we cannot comment at this time."

Age Concern Auckland chief executive Kevin Lamb said the awful reality was this was a situation waiting to happen.

"We know it's not an unusual thing. Fortunately for older people it's not that common, but we do know there's a huge amount of pressure on older people to try to find appropriate accommodation, to be able to afford accommodation, so sadly it's not a surprise."

Lamb said while they hadn't had reports of people living in cars, there had been a "steady increase" in older people struggling with affordability with accommodation and emergency housing.

"It's frightening in a modern city like Auckland.

"We desperately need to improve and increase the number of transitional housing units that are available to support older people because there are virtually none in Auckland, you can probably count the number of transitional rooms for older people on the fingers of one hand."

He said this situation sent a clear message that agencies needed to collaborate better and support those in need.

"We need to be better collectively."

Grey Power president Jan Pentecost told the Herald she had not had communications showing the issue was widespread, but that was not to say it wasn't happening.

"As part of our work that we do for Grey Power I haven't heard of any cases myself, but I do read them in the paper and that, but I haven't read of any of our members in that position."

A Justice Ministry spokesperson told the Herald the matter was still with the National Initial Investigation Office (NIIO) and has not yet been assigned to a specific coroner.

"As the investigation process is still at a very early stage, decisions regarding whether or not an inquest will be held are unlikely to be made for some time."