A Nelson mother whose Kāinga Ora home was declared “uninhabitable” after extensive mould was found in the roof space says she is considering moving into a tent after being shifted to another property she says is also riddled with mould.
Alyssa Lennon has been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This week, she contacted Fair Go in frustration.
She said the issues began as soon as the family of four moved into their first Kāinga Ora home after years on the waiting list.
An asthmatic, Lennon was admitted to hospital in February with breathing problems.
“From needing my asthma inhaler maybe four times a year, I now need it just to walk up a flight of stairs,” Lennon told 1News.
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Her partner Sean Jackson, who she described the “fittest of them all”, would feel faint going up the steps, and her 13-year-old son would wake up with a sore throat, red eyes and a blocked nose almost every morning.
Lennon’s 16-year-old daughter “suffered the most, allergy-wise” – a chimney ran through the corner of her bedroom, allowing air circulating in the roof space to blow straight into her room.
“She was always puffy in the eyes – sick – just couldn’t hear her voice properly,” Lennon said.
The teen had since moved to Christchurch, where her symptoms have “basically cleared up 100%”.
Contractors, who had initially sprayed for wasps after swarms inside the house, inspected the ceiling cavity in April, leading to the discovery of a large mould problem and a hole the size of a 50-cent piece in the roof.
Lennon said she issued Kāinga Ora with a 14-day notice, which she “didn’t really hear anything back” about, until air quality testing in September confirmed a severe cladosporium growth in the roof space.
The report said prolonged exposure to elevated levels of the allergenic mould indoors, which can cause coughing, sneezing, itchy eyes and asthma flare-ups, could “significantly reduce air quality” and impact occupant wellbeing.
At the beginning of October, Lennon received a call from Kāinga Ora warning that the home was “uninhabitable” and giving her seven days to move out. Most of the family’s furniture was lost to mould contamination.
After living in temporary housing, the family moved into a second Kāinga Ora property on the other side of the street at the beginning of November.
However, Lennon said it has visible mould in living areas among other issues: a leaking handbasin, a front door that won’t lock, and a broken shower that was not fixed for five days. The home also had an unsigned Healthy Homes compliance document.
“It’s all stuff that they guaranteed us and promised us that they wouldn’t do this time round, that they’d make sure that we would be in a place that was good for our health.”
She said she “bawled her eyes out” as she signed the tenancy agreement.
“If I didn’t, they were no longer going to take responsibility for anything and I had nowhere else sorted for me and my kids to go, so I had no choice but to sign.”
Ongoing repairs to the property were only “masking the problem rather than fixing it”, she said.
“We’ve got the same sort of mould issues, except now it’s in actual living areas, the wash house, the toilet.
Kāinga Ora previously offered the family $5125 in compensation, but Lennon declined. She said the offer failed to account for health impacts, loss of income, and property damage – and it included confidentiality clauses.
She had since filed Tenancy Tribunal claims for both houses and said Kāinga Ora should still be held to the Tenancy Act.
“If it was a private landlord, if it was a real estate person, they wouldn’t be allowed to get away with this stuff.”
Kāinga Ora: ‘We should have done more’
Kāinga Ora regional director of Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast Julia Campbell said the state housing provider was “deeply sorry” for the distress Lennon and her whānau have experienced.
“Their situation falls short of the warm, dry, healthy homes we’re committed to providing,” she said in a statement to 1News.
“We should have done more to follow through on the repairs needed to get rid of the mould, and this work should have been carried out with urgency. We’re looking at what went wrong and where we need to improve. Our priority now is ensuring Mrs Lennon’s whānau has a safe, healthy home. We’ll support her through the Tenancy Tribunal process and pay any compensation it deems fair.”
She said the second home that Lennon moved into met the Healthy Homes standards and went through the usual checks before she moved in.
“We are investigating how these matters could have been missed.”
Asked why a confidentiality clause was included in Lennon’s compensation offer, Campbell said Kāinga Ora was unable to discuss individual agreements.
“In general, the decision to include a clause is made on a case-by-case basis, depending on the circumstances.”
Lennon had costed moving to a local campground until February, considering a tent because at least there she could be sure of no mould.
“The fact that, for me at the moment, a tent seems more stable than a house is just bizarre,” she said.
Lennon said she was worried about being perceived as ungrateful after years on the housing waitlist.
“We were real grateful, for that step up, but it’s actually been three steps back and just left us all with health problems.”
Navigating the system had been “emotionally and physically exhausting”, she said.
“I’ve pretty much woken up in this house every morning crying. I dread the thought of waking up because it’s like, ‘Oh no, what are we going to wake up to today’?”
However, she said she would continue to advocate for her family as well as for other tenants facing similar issues.
“If everyone just gives up, nothing will ever change. I’ve already come this far. There’s no point giving up.”
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