{"id":198691,"date":"2025-12-23T22:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T22:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/198691\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T22:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T22:07:07","slug":"salvation-army-transitional-housing-exit-leaves-young-whangarei-mum-stranded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/198691\/","title":{"rendered":"Salvation Army transitional housing exit leaves young Whang\u0101rei mum stranded"},"content":{"rendered":"

With nowhere else to go, they stayed until contractors arrived on December 8 and started putting their belongings outside.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my grandmother had not taken us in, we\u2019d be on the streets,\u201d the woman said. <\/p>\n

Her grandmother did so reluctantly as her house was already overcrowded, and she believed the problem was for the Salvation Army or Housing New Zealand to solve. <\/p>\n

The mother said problems at the property included:<\/p>\n

mould.an old textured ceiling coating (of a type known to commonly contain asbestos) that crumbled in hot weather.a gap in a front yard fence.an insecure exterior door.faulty electrics that often left a side of the house without power.exposed interior breeze block wall.a stove that didn\u2019t work when she moved in.<\/p>\n

Other issues she identified included draughty windows, water leaking from a shower wall and pooling in the bathroom doorway, and no underlay between carpet and concrete flooring, resulting in a cold and unforgivingly hard surface for her children. <\/p>\n

The Salvation Army confirmed it was engaged in mediation for the case through Fairway Dispute Resolution, after which it would provide more details. <\/p>\n

For now, it could not comment on individual cases due to privacy reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can confirm that our team has acted in accordance with our internal processes as well as the guidance outlined in the Transitional Housing Code of Practice. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have worked closely with the person in question, offering support to find alternative housing and navigate this process. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery effort has been made to identify alternative solutions, and a planned exit from our housing is always a last resort,\u201d a Salvation Army spokesperson said. <\/p>\n

\"MouldMould is present throughout the property, and ceiling coatings are an old textured type known to contain asbestos. In hot weather, bits crumble onto the floor, creating a hazard for young children. <\/p>\n

The mother disputed receiving help and said she believed another provider declined assistance due to comments made by the Salvation Army. <\/p>\n

Te T\u016b\u0101papa Kura K\u0101inga – Ministry of Housing and Urban Development oversees transitional housing providers, such as the Salvation Army, and established a Transitional Housing Code of Practice, which sets minimum standards for housing quality, tenancy management, and dispute resolution. <\/p>\n

Providers must ensure properties meet Healthy Homes Standards, including adequate heating, insulation, and ventilation, and respond promptly to maintenance issues. <\/p>\n

They are also required to support tenants in finding alternative housing and make planned exits a last resort.<\/p>\n

\"AA leaking shower wall left water in the bathroom doorway. <\/p>\n

The Salvation Army said it worked with the landlords who supplied its transitional housing properties to remedy concerns when maintenance issues were identified.<\/p>\n

The mother claimed an exterior ranch slider door remained unlockable for most of her tenancy despite her protestations. <\/p>\n

She said she also had to fix a gap in the fence to keep dogs out and prevent her children from straying onto the road. <\/p>\n

She had not received paperwork for the first alleged tenancy breach, believed to relate to rubbish strewn by a dog that got in through the gap in the fence last October. <\/p>\n

She was issued two further breaches, and believed they were in retaliation for ongoing maintenance concerns she and her grandmother raised at a meeting with the Salvation Army\u2019s transitional housing <\/a>manager on November 3. <\/p>\n

The mother questioned whether the latter two breaches would stand up to scrutiny. <\/p>\n

The first was a glass drug bong found on top of a kitchen cupboard – the mother says it is not hers. <\/p>\n

\"AA gap in a fence line made the front yard unsafe for children to play and allowed roaming dogs to get into rubbish bags. <\/p>\n

She accepted the Salvation Army\u2019s <\/a>rules forbade drug use, but rejected the bong\u2019s presence was proof of it. <\/p>\n

The other breach was for refusing a further inspection eight days later (November 14), the woman claimed the schedule was fortnightly. <\/p>\n

The woman said she was disappointed not to have been provided permanent housing after so long in transitional housing, and was still awaiting a mediation date.<\/p>\n

Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years\u2019 experience in journalism, most of which she spent court reporting in Gisborne and on the East Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With nowhere else to go, they stayed until contractors arrived on December 8 and started putting their belongings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[62507,62925,4911,8227,1558,9218,18399,127,73890,35702,71,1360,42,3339,5511,7973,6178,2721,43,122369,93388,12507,40,38,41,39,111316,4518,1869,4741],"class_list":["post-198691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-21yearold","tag-accommodation","tag-alternative","tag-army","tag-been","tag-before","tag-christmas","tag-despite","tag-evicted","tag-exit","tag-from","tag-having","tag-headlines","tag-housing","tag-just","tag-leaves","tag-mother","tag-mum","tag-news","tag-preschoolers","tag-salvation","tag-stranded","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-transitional","tag-weeks","tag-whangrei","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}