6 Mar 2016

Emergency housing trust seeks help

1:29 pm on 6 March 2016

A trust struggling to provide emergency housing in Whangarei says it is heartened by the prospect of a meeting with Housing New Zealand.

State Housing in Upper Hutt

Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson

The trust appealed for help last month, saying it had been turning away homeless families every day because those it was already sheltering could not find houses.

It said some had been waiting for three months, when in the past they had been able to find a state house or private rental within weeks.

The trust's chairman, Adrian Whale, said the Ministry of Social Development, which runs the social housing register, had offered to set up a meeting with local Housing New Zealand officials.

He hoped that would answer some of the questions the trust and its clients had about housing in the north.

Mr Whale said people waiting months for social housing in Whangarei found it a torment to see vacant state houses around the city.

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