At the end of 2024, Chloe and her young son had to leave their rental in Hamilton.
It was the third time since he was born that she’d had to find a new rental. This time, nothing came up.
Chloe is a solo mum, and her son has autism (takiwātanga) and needs a lot of care. Her whānau and iwi were here in the Wellington region, but moving home had always felt out of reach.
“The prospect of acquiring another home started to seem impossible,” she says.
Then her sister got in touch with us.
After a phone assessment, Chloe packed the car full and drove south with her son. We placed them in transitional housing in Titahi Bay, close to whānau. Not long after, Chloe lost her dad.
“Having a stable house in close proximity to our home and whānau at such a precarious time was a gift I can’t begin to articulate,” she says.
Our housing team helped Chloe onto the social housing register and into a home in Tawa.
Her son can slip out through doors and windows, so we put in a gate, window restrictors and extra door locks. Changes like that can take months through the usual channels.
Earlier this year, Chloe wrote that the changes let her “complete simple everyday tasks like showering, hanging out washing and even sleeping without being in a constant state of stress and fear for my son’s safety”.
Her son started school, and home became his safe place to reset after a big day. Chloe started studying. Her wider whānau got to know him and how he sees the world.
Chloe and her son have since moved to a home with another housing provider, closer to her sister.
“As a parent, there is nothing more important than knowing my child is safe, and that I’m no longer having to navigate everything by myself.”