Pensioner in poverty: Life in a caravan

poverty has become a major issue this election homelessness the working poor children go to school without any lunch and not having eaten breakfast we looked at all of those things on checkpoint tonight we're going to look at pensioners living in poverty with rents rising as a single person can you live off the pension Lynette Haines at Mount Maunganui this is unless you live in a caravan you can't our reporter Zach Fleming and cameraman Brad white paid her a visit we're sitting in my little Karen at three point three meters in length for perspective that's barely enough for an average man to lie down arms stretched out overhead standing inside I'm thinking small cramped claustrophobic even but not Lynn he's how she described it she's kind of seventies style inside I guess you'd call the colors in here and gold and green and in a deep blue to gray she said it's comfortable except when it's cold which is actually every night that I can fill the hot water bottle I've got an electric jag which I can use in here for the hot water bottle and I've got plenty of blankets and beading and warm things to wear Lynne is 69 years old a job seeker living in a caravan at a campground in the Bay of Plenty she epitomizes the struggle of the hard-working but non home owning pensioner yet she is the glass overflowing kind of positive and my dad taught me resilience to get up and bounce back and roll with the punches he used to say when things didn't go right you've got to roll with the punches learning so how did she get here she was working in a pharmacy when the global financial crisis hit in 2008 I did love my job made redundant the Veen 60 year old went on the job hunt number of applications hundreds but she couldn't find a job what she puts down to her age there was no chance I think I got to one interview and all the hundreds of jobs that I applied for then to make matters worse her landlord asked her to leave because his daughter needed a place to live my living situation has just gone slip back bit bit bit all the time before and during all of this Lynne was trying to get a place of her own but with the global financial crisis and my job loss the been couldn't give me a mortgage loan so that went down the gurgler so I kept hopeful and that's why I kept applying for jobs but hope doesn't pay the bills and that's Lynn's problem the cheapest one-bedroom units in total that are suitable for long term stays as in not just an uninsulated converted garage gofer around $300 a week the pension is 390 dollars a week okay I could go out tomorrow and rent a little place and hand all my rent all my income my pension and come over to the landlord but that means I've got nothing left for dental care health care keeping tires on the car keeping the warrant and the registration going putting food on the table all of those things I just couldn't hate them the campground has communal bathrooms and kitchen at costs 'ln a hundred and fifty four dollars a week she was there during cyclones cooking Debbie earlier this year she had to take refuge in the local library it's deafening I have to lock up and get in my car and go we can't tell you the name of the campground because it's actually illegal for Lynn to be there the camping grounds regulations act says nobody can stay at a campground longer than 50 days but staying there means Lynn can afford the essentials just recently I had two single dental visits for two single fillings and there were a hundred and seventy dollars each and what would have happened if she was in a rental unit I would have to go to A&E and big for the dentist to come and fix my teeth because I'd be in agony Lynn told me as far as she sees it her choices are live in the caravan or go into debt I asked her what she does for fun and she was confused what did I mean by fun I asked again going walking on the beach just across the road so that's not too far away hop on the bus and get a bus ride thanks to Winston Peters I've got a gold that's card which I can use locally so we can go and walk around the city and enjoy the best and some lovely places down on the Strand and round the city to walk and beautiful parks we've got beautiful parks here in Tehran that I can go down to the mountain and enjoy pilot Bay you'll notice none of these things cost money and go to the library which is free to me and yeah and contact friends and maybe meet for a cup of tea and family when I get to see them when they're busy what about a movie dining out anything that costs more than say ten dollars I've got to think twice restaurant meals are out for me I can't ever get to a restaurant where I can go and sit down and be waited on there does a no for me and other little treats like an ice cream in a cone is nice and basic that's really all I do shopping is either the $2 shop or secondhand op shops so my meals consist of sausages in boiled vegetables or she gave us a tour of her Caravan groceries in here pick up some jars and the foods mostly home brand or tend she has a small TV with a makeshift aerial that can only get channel 1 and 2 there are no signs of extravagance or irresponsibility no computer no internet unfortunately we've got to cut your clothes to fit your pocket and some things have to go and that's just how it is she told me once is very hard when you cooped up in a little space very hard and it couldn't be wee bit depressing you get a wee bit depressed and even though I've had a positive attitude there's times when I had thing oh why me why is this happening to me now is it ever going to change and and the whole time I'm planning what can I actually do to get out of it that's the other thing as I've set and made notes sometimes about what can I do Lynn thinks there are two ways get a job which she's as yet been unable to do or housing New Zealand she's on the waiting list for a state house in the Bay of Plenty area to be near her grandkid at my age going to a city where you don't know anyone and having to sit yourself out and start all over again it's pretty much an a the ministry for Social development's regional commissioner Mike Bryant says Len has been on the housing New Zealand waitlist for just over a year and she's considered a high priority but because she occasionally house it's for friends or acquaintances it changes her entitlement to accommodation supplement mr. Brian sees MSD he has a hundred and twenty three transitional housing places in the Bay of Plenty and is currently looking for an additional 290 social housing places including a hundred and fifty five one bedrooms mr. Brian sees MSD would look at a discretionary bond and helping Lynne with rent in advance if she wanted to move into a rental unit otherwise widening her search area would help as quote one-bedroom properties and Turanga are hard to find I asked Linda she evil eyes awake at night unable to sleep yes I do sometimes I wake up in the night and I worry and I get up night and I turn the light on and I turn the radio I listen to a lot of radio New Zealand during the night I listen to Brian and juice and yeah that's become my company your radio station has become my company in the night we're not worried I won't really help lying because I'm not the only one we hear cases like this all the time there isn't enough money for other people to pay rent travel transport eat and look after themselves Stephanie clear chief executive of age concerns is Lynne as an example of a worsening problem as home ownership levels fall once upon a time that amount of money on retirement was aimed just to supplement whatever money there you know the living standards of an older person but in today's world it's actually paying for everything so it doesn't actually keep up with inflation and the needs of an older person and we have been single people in their retirement years on national superannuation who are in in by any measure living in poverty I asked Tom O'Connor president of grey power what should Lin do sadly there's not a lot she needs to go to once he's on the house in New Zealand wait listen yeah you can't live on a white list we have people in dire straits in this country and that's an indictment on a succession of governments of the world to happen felon she's holding out hope of a State House or a job maybe both and that she doesn't get booted out of the campground for breaking the rules we live in uncertainty and it's really a very difficult place to be it's like a rock and a hard place for checkpoint Zach Fleming the owners of the campground and is living inside they turn away at least one person a day in a similar situation asking to pack their Caravan permanently and if you're wondering why Lynne isn't living with her son he's also renting and doesn't have room for Lynne or her Caravan

Channel: RNZ

Views: 449,936

Keywords: RNZ, Radio NZ, Radio New Zealand, Checkpoint, John Campbell, New Zealand, news, Pensioners, Poverty, Inequality, Lynette Haines, Bay of Plenty, pensioner, elderly, woman, caravan

Id: z-RBuyx8h0Y

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 14 2017