The Mother Died So Housing NZ Evicted the Daughter

The Mother, the Tenant, Died So 'Housing New Zealand' Evicted the Daughter

By Tony Allen

IF you live in a 'Housing New Zealand' (H.N.Z) home and your mother or father is the tenant, you had better hope he or she does not die, because H.N.Z. may evict you.

This is because a cruel government owned Housing New Zealand policy not to allow a family member to become a tenant of one of its homes after another family member who held the tenancy has died has resulted in 48 year old Janet Mai sitting on the doorstep of her Pilkington Road, Panmure, Auckland home, today (14 December), evicted and homeless.

She sat there with only a handbag while most of her possessions were inside and inaccessible, due to H.N.Z. changing the locks to prevent her using her usual key to gain entry, according to whanau member Marion Peka. An alarm had also been installed which would be activated if anyone entered the home.

Peka said Mai had lived in the home since the age of three when her family shifted into it in 1967.

An eviction notice with the wrong name and address had been attached to her door on 12 December but when challenged on this point by Mai, the baliff and H.N.Z. officer produced a notice naming her.

A Tenancy Tribunal hearing had been scheduled for next year, said Peka, but this had been circumvented by today's eviction. A Tenancy Tribunal ajudicator's note in June had wrongly indicated that Mai was willing to leave.

Mai was supported today by several members of the Tamaki Housing Action Group (T.H.A.G.) which has miltantly resisted - its supporters suffering tens of arrests by police and many prosecutions in court - the removal of 156 State homes, owned by H.N.Z., in Glen Innes,which is adjacent to Panmure.

Many homes in Glen Innes have already been removed and sold but others in the T.H.A.G. have vowed to defy evictions if H.N.Z attempts to enact them.

Tony Allen's last article on Scoop was 'Free man challenges court's jurisdiction over him', published on 14 December.Tony Allen has worked as a reporter for the NZ Press Association, Radio Pacific, the South Waikato News and the Taupo Times. He has ,also, freelanced for the NZ Herald, the Dominion, the Christchurch Star, the National Business Review, the NZ Truth, the Sunday News and contributed regularly, to Te Awa-iti, the City Voice and, also, the People's Voice. Allen is editor of the The People And Independent Free Press website (under construction), which is being launched as an investigative and campaigning online newspaper, in the new year.
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