Housing provider steps in after Covid-stricken family's sleepout burns

When some members of the Nouata family got Omicron, they knew they had to isolate immediately to protect their bedridden, seriously ill father.

Temukisa Nouata and her nine-year-old niece Suisami moved into the sleepout at the back of the family home but a study laptop left on the bed caught fire, burning the place down.

It had been used to store family belongings, meaning priceless family photos of their grandparents were among the items destroyed.

“It was really upsetting, quite traumatising for all of us, I guess," Temukisa told 1News.

"We did lose a lot of our childhood memories."

More upsetting was the uncertainty of where to go – until social housing provider Penina Trust stepped in to help.

Its chief executive, Tupuola Roine Lealaiauloto, said the family lost their place of refuge and given it was an emergency, the Trust was able to offer a temporary place to stay.

“Where else would they go… They are Covid-positive and it’s not that easy for other families to open their homes, especially our community," she said.

"We have overcrowding and people sharing the same bathrooms so that’s a huge logistical consideration for those families."

The Penina Trust has 167 homes across 12 different South Auckland sites and are about to expand into West Auckland.

While most of the units are for transitional and social housing, the Trust put aside several homes for urgent cases who needed to isolate but was unable to do so at home.

Lealaiauloto said they forecast what was coming for the Pasifika community and were ready for it.

“We knew this was coming… I say to our team, 'You fail to plan, you plan to fail'… So it was really making sure we could preempt this and plan for it."

That planning is crucial as Pasifika have a disproportionately high rate of hospitalisations. On Monday, that was at 28 per cent of total cases in the northern region.

It's why the Nouata family are so grateful to have been offered the temporary accommodation.

They still have not told their dad about the sleepout fire or that some of them have contracted Covid-190.

For them, it's about protecting their most vulnerable and keeping their dad safe.