A Kiwi woman whose father is dying from a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has issued a desperate plea for Government to intervene following a series of issues with his "unhealthy and dangerous" Kāinga Ora house.
Corina Shields has previously spoken to media about her father's housing issues, including how it took longer than a year to install a heat pump into his cold home.
But issues with the house persist and she has now written an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Minister for Housing Megan Woods and Associate Minister Poto Williams calling for action.
"My name is Corina Shields," she said. "You are undoubtedly aware of my father's plight. He is terminally ill with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and stuck in an unhealthy and dangerous Kāinga Ora house."
Shields noted not long ago Woods encouraged landlords to show more compassion to ease the country's housing crisis.
"I agree with Minister Woods, some landlords do need more compassion. One of those landlords is Kāinga Ora," she wrote.
"I can't even begin to tell you the amount of stress and anxiety I've gone through, dealing with Kāinga Ora issues for my father. I'm not stressed over a heat pump like the news story would have people believe. I'm stressed over the need to constantly chase up leaking toilets, I'm stressed over having to make numerous calls about a faulty hot water cylinder and I'm stressed because of the lack of communication and follow ups, ignored requests for information, and the lack of accountability shown by Kāinga Ora. For someone who doesn't live in a Kāinga Ora home, it's ridiculous and disheartening to me that Kāinga Ora has taken such a toll on my mental health."
She said her own private landlords had been sympathetic and helpful over the issues she's been dealing with over her father's house, but Kainga Ora hasn't.
"I've cried a lot over the last year in my dealings with Kāinga Ora. On the phone and in all the meetings I've had with tenancy, area and regional managers of Kāinga Ora. I've cried out of frustration. I've cried because nobody has listened and I've cried because nobody seems to care.
"And as I sit in my parents Kāinga Ora home where damages my parents have paid for to be fixed by Kāinga Ora remain unfinished and unpainted, stare me in the face as I write this, it's dawned on me how little compassion the government has shown towards Kāinga Ora tenants like my father.
"If the last year has taught me anything, it's the need for the government to intervene and review the systems within Kāinga Ora. I'm pleading with you to get involved because the health, well being and lives of thousands of vulnerable people are at stake in a system where nobody is listening."
Minister Megan Woods and Poto Williams have been contacted for comment.
