Freezing cold houses anger RNZAF mums
BY PENNY WARDLE
COLD COMFORT: Housing at Woodbourne is substandard, according to some of the Royal New Zealand Air Force wives who live there.
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Some of the women living at RNZAF Base Woodbourne are waging war with the Ministry of Defence over freezing temperatures in the houses where they are raising families.
Two partners of air-force servicemen said they were desperate for action after going through all the right channels and having their complaints ignored.
One was so fed up she said she was leaving Marlborough to bring her family up in Christchurch, leaving her husband behind.
Splitting the family was a last resort, but her children's health came first, she said.
Air Force spokesman Squadron Leader Kavae Tamariki said military housing throughout New Zealand was in poor condition.
"I understand where the Woodbourne women are coming from," he said.
Any complaints would be listened to if they went through the correct chain of command, he said.
The women opted to go public, because they were no longer willing to tolerate the barking coughs, asthma, ear infections, chest infections and allergies suffered by the young children living in many of the houses.
Mothers at the base talked of little else but the shocking conditions, they said. But none would be identified because of the possible backlash for their husbands. Their examples included a mother whose preschoolers splashed water on the bathroom floor. Exhausted, she left the clean-up until the morning then slipped on the linoleum because the water had turned to ice.
The complaints included homes with no insulation and no carpet, where fireplaces had been boarded up, damp crept up the walls, mould grew and window frames were rotten, with paint holding the glass in place. Heat escaped through gaps between the floorboards and around the windows.
Water from a leaking roof ran down the walls of one house.
Each home had a heat pump, but even with it on all day, one woman said they had to wear down jackets and scarves.
One woman had a power bill for June of more than $580, saying she also ran an oil column heater in her preschool son's bedroom with a dehumidifier. Another paid $640 for electricity one month. The women said while their rent was subsidised, at about $290 a fortnight, any advantages were lost in high power bills and health costs.
Adding to the frustration, insulation was being installed in vacant houses. Some families who asked when it was their turn were told their houses would be sold in five years, so no improvements would be made.
"This Government is supposed to be pro-defence and looking after our guys. Our husbands are away for weeks at a time and their families deserve better," one woman said.
- The Marlborough Express
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and what do you suggest to those that own houses in other parts of the country but have been posted away from them?? with the drop in house prices we can't sell ours without losing a lot of money but can't live in it either. And yes we would love to light the fire and just get on with it but since ALL Woodbourne houses have had their fireplaces removed or boarded up (rather than spend a little money to fix them) we are stuck with heat pumps that just aren't up to the job of heating the house the same way a fire does. Heat pumps are fine for modern houses with some insulation but for these houses that have no insulation, gaps in the floor and around windows and bare wooden floors its a losing battle.
I am a current serving member and totally agree with the homes being substandard. I was evicted from married quarters by the airforce as they didnt have enough to go round back in 1995. Best thing that has ever happened to me. I bought my own home and havent looked back. Dont think you have to rent with a stable airforce income the banks will readily lend you the money. Get out of the rent trap and stop being a vitcim.
Going to Christchurch to get away from the cold here, find that a bit odd as it's far colder down there than here, having lived there for many years, ice on the inside of the windows was nothing in Burnham Army camp where I lived with 3 young children for 7 1/2 years 1 of those years spend with a husband in vietnam, we sucked it up and got on with it, put on a heater, lit the chippy, worn warmer clothes. We never gave it a second thought, it was just the way it was, use to hang the washing on the line at 9am by 9.30 it was frozen solid, now that's cold. I think we are getting way too soft these days, no wonder the kids today get so many colds etc, the camp kids were all pretty healthy, maybe didn't live in "hot" houses and then going into the cold had something to do with it.
so the new legislation that has come in saying that landlords can be fined up to $3000 for providing sub-standard housing.... do you think the government will fine itself??
Alexander... really?? that is not what service families want at all!! Every winter benificiaries complain that their state house is too cold or not nice enough, but guess what in a lot of cases the state houses are in better condition (when you remove tenant damage from the arguement) The Labour Govt toured the houses and decided that they were not good enough to be state houses, but strangely they were good enough for the military families. for most of us, these houses are a temporary home, until we buy, rent somewhere else or get yet another posting, that still does not excuce the terrible state that the previous govt let these houses get in.
Hope all you highly judgemental people are enjoying your warm homes, your spouses company and may of the other things you clearly take for granted that others can not.
I personally don't like to think of anyone ever uncomfortable in their homes, for any reasons.
All the best ladies, I hope these matters get resolved for you all and for all the future families that will reside in these homes.
@ Joe #4
Actually Joe it is still reasonably common for service people and their families to spend a 2 or three year tour at one base or posting before moving on to another.
Free TV's and servants next...right poor 'lady's ?
All part of not being respect by the Armed forces Families come last. Many years ago my husband went off overseas in the winter and our house was redecorated All curtains and window coverings were removed and for 6 weeks we camped in our house ... freezing Myself and my 2 young children crawled into one bed trying to keep warm It was dreadful.
I lived in service housing for many years at Hobsonville, the houses are pretty ugly and cold, but the fires made all the difference. Can't believe they have taken the fires out of the Woody ones. It is well known that it costs a fortune to try to heat an uninsulated house with a heat pump.