mainland press issue 71

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THURSDAY APRIL 26 2012

mainland press

proudly Christchurch owned SEE

THURSDAY APRIL 26 2012

• Community building for St Albans

INSIDE your local

City markets return P5

Our poppies in Passchendaele P2

CBHS team wins tour P23

inside THIS ISSUE Autumn and winter fashion supplement

Time for minister to wake up, says King

Capping time Scholarly progress: Engineering and Forestry students from the University of Canterbury (UC) march in procession to the CSB Canterbury Arena on Tuesday to take part in their graduation ceremony. More than 1200 UC students are graduating this week. Humanities, Social Sciences and Creative Arts students were also capped on Tuesday afternoon. Tomorrow it will be the turn for Science and Education, followed by law and Commerce graduands to receive their degrees. Photo: Gilbert Wealleans

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Gina McKenzie “UNBELIEVABLE” is how Labour’s spokesperson for housing Annette King describes the plight of ‘Rachel’, the woman Mainland Press reported on last week who has been living in her car for the last 10 months. “I’ve seen people today who are renting houses and will need help when they move out but this is taking it to a whole new level,” Ms King said. “I can’t believe that she hasn’t been able to get the help she needs from government agencies. “Everyone knows there’s a crisis and it’s time for (Earthquake Recovery Minister) Mr Brownlee to wake up and take action. “There are state houses boarded up that could be fixed cheaply so it doesn’t make sense to leave them sitting empty when people desperately need housing.” Aspokesperson for Mr Brownlee said the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) was working with Housing NZ Corporation to get state houses fixed and reoccupied. “Housing New Zealand plans to accelerate the repair of properties that require minor through to major repairs. Cera has also been working with other social housing providers to ensure that their properties are also repaired as quickly as possible.” In the past year, the spokesperson said over 1900 households had contacted the Canterbury Earthquake Temporary Accommodation

Service (Cetas) seeking temporary accommodation support and since February this year Cetas had put more than 830 households in contact with landlords in the private rental market. The Government had also established two temporary accommodation villages at Linwood Park and Kaiapoi Domain. Meanwhile, since the publication of last week’s article, Mainland Press has received 14 offers of help for Rachel, including housing. She was overwhelmed by the response. “It feels like Christmas and I’m so happy to see that there are good people out there. “Once I have a place I won’t be scared anymore and I can start my life again,” she said. While Rachel was excited about moving into a house she warned that others living in cars would die this winter if they didn’t find accommodation. “They’ve got health problems and if they live outside in the cold they’re going to die just like what happened to my husband.” “It’s getting like a third-world country.” “People are more important than buildings.” Rachel said she hoped to move into a house this week and was looking forward to a brighter future. “Nothing can bring back my husband but I know he’d be happy to see me living in a house again.”

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