Day 402 - Cafe, clients stump up for quake needy

Reprinted from The Nelson Mail
31/3/2012

By Sally Kidson

Tahunanui's Beach Cafe patrons have made a generous $1000 donation to a Christchurch trust that helps low-income people struggling with the impact of the February earthquake.

Beach Cafe owner Neal Bardsley posted a cheque to the Addington Action Trust yesterday.

Mr Bardsley said cafe patrons contributed $700 towards the fund through donations and baking sold at the cafe with proceeds collected for Christchurch. He had topped up the fund with the remaining $300.

Mr Bardsley said he had intended to send the money to Christchurch as soon as possible, but decided to wait and see if there were groups that needed help but had fallen through the gaps.

He had also originally wanted to donate $200 to Christchurch woman Jaimita de Jongh and her family after reading in the Nelson Mail about the family getting their car broken into while it was parked at the Hackett car park. The family was on a quake break from Christchurch and had personal items, including torches, cellphones, and clothing stolen and Mr Bardsley felt they might need their faith in Nelson restored.

Ms de Jongh said she was surprised and humbled by Mr Bardsley's offer, but she could not accept it as others were in greater need. She worked with a lot of charitable trusts in Christchurch and suggested the Addington Action Group as a worthy cause.

Organiser Mike Peter said the group was run by volunteers and was set up the day after Christchurch's devastating February earthquake.

The group provided help and support for people in five lower income southern Christchurch suburbs. The help it provided ranged from grocery vouchers for householders struggling after losing jobs following the quakes, to fixing uninsured earthquake homes for the elderly, solo mothers and other needy recipients. It also organised volunteers to carry out working bees along the same lines as the Student Army.

The $1000 donation from the Beach Cafe would allow it to undertake repairs on two homes. During the next three years the group expected to fix 200 uninsured quake-damaged homes at an average cost of $500 for each home and using several days of volunteer labour, he said.

He welcomed the donation and said the trust relied solely on donations and all money it received went directly to help people and was not used on overheads, or for wages.

Mr Bardsley said it was great to be able to support such a worthy cause and be confident the money would be spent on needy recipients.

Many Beach Cafe regulars had extended family in Christchurch and the cafe was also frequented by Cantabrians visiting Nelson on breaks from the city, he said.

"They can do a lot with that money ... it could be the difference between people having to move out or making their homes capable of being lived in."

He was proud his patrons had got behind the cause. "Times are hard for everyone. It's great to see a lot of people do care and are prepared to front up. I think that's what sets New Zealand apart from a lot of other places; that we do care very, very much."For more information on the group visit addingtonaction.org.nz.

Day 398 - $2750 from Belfast Rotary

Earlier tonight, Belfast Rotary Club presented a cheque for $2750 to Addington Action to help with the earthquake repairs.

This all happened at their weekly club night at the Belfast Rugby Club. Mike got to give a talk about Addington Action to a very interested group of people.

They were very hospitable to Addington Action volunteers Tracy and Mike.

Day 398 - CanCERN provides Govt with 3 solutions that will solve insurance & EQC issues for many residents

CanCERN Media Release
27/3/2012

Influential residents collective, CanCERN, is today calling for government to step in and implement three measures designed to streamline and speed up insurance and EQC settlements for Canterbury homeowners.

They involve instructing EQC to align its interpretation of ‘replacement value’ with homeowners’ insurance policies, paying out homeowners where EQC and insurers agree on the total damage figure but can’t agree due to apportionment issues, and convening a working group tasked with developing consistent and standardised repair methods and cost ranges, and applying these within the next eight weeks.

Representing 38 residents groups city-wide, CanCERN has previously acted behind the scenes as a go-between for residents and the various agencies involved in Canterbury’s recovery. Through frank conversations and gathering critical information, CanCERN has been able to effect small but important measures of progress for Christchurch residents. However spokesperson Leanne Curtis said today that matters have reached a point where the organisation felt it needs to go public with what it believes is required.

It’s our understanding that for Government to act on some of these matters, residents need to demonstrate to Cabinet that the community is fully behind these three recommendations.

“CanCERN has started this process – it’s now up to the rest of Canterbury to weigh in behind what we’re doing and help send a message to not just Government but also the various agencies involved that there is strong public support for decisive action.”

Curtis says the impetus has come from membership feedback that issues of ‘insurance limbo’ and a lack of homeowner confidence in certain processes have reached a critical point. “Cantabrians should have confidence in the ability to rebuild their lives here. But for that to happen people need to believe government will deal to any roadblocks.

“We’ve gone to a lot of effort to make sure that what we’re asking for is realistic and achievable”.

“We’re also very clear about not pointing fingers and apportioning blame. The particular issues which keep coming up are no-one’s fault. That’s because the already massive job of processing hundreds of thousands of insurance claims was complicated by several unforeseen factors such as the need for CERA to make land zoning decisions, through to last year’s apportionment ruling by the courts which resulted in unintended disputes between EQC and insurers.

“The hold-up is causing immense stress for thousands of residents,” says Curtis. “Homeowners shouldn’t have to become experts in a process which should be as simple as ‘fix it, replace it, or pay me out.

“Assessments to date have been incredibly subjective, which is at the heart of so many problems for homeowners. There is no set standard for repair or replacement. Every assessor and every insurer has different ideas about costings and methodologies, and as people discuss and compare costings this ultimately generates confusion, mistrust, anxiety and sleepless nights.”

Curtis says CanCERN has worked with insurers and EQC to try to address the areas of inconsistency experienced by residents but feels CanCERN has gone as far as they can. “The issue now is that EQC and the insurers have to work out what their relationship is with one another. While they hash that out, the residents are stuck in limbo and from their perspective, it’s neither here nor there who's paying for what. As long as they know a payment is going to be made soon, or they’re going to be able to get the information they need, the residents will be in a position to make decisions and move on. "

CanCERN also wants government to put together a working party involving key stakeholders in insurance and building, to address the issues of professional best practice, disclosure of repair and rebuild procedures, and instill public confidence in the rebuild.

“This is an unprecedented disaster in terms of insurance – the traditional way of dealing with insurance claims has been complicated by EQC and Government decisions that have drastically altered simple claims process. The process needs to be streamlined and it needs to be rationalised. It has to be done from the top, and it has to happen now.”

CANCERN’S 3-POINT PLAN PRESENTED TO GOVERNMENT

CanCERN is asking for government to intervene and offers with the following solutions which have been formulated specifically to help people move on with their lives and speed up the settlement of their claims:

1. The government should instruct EQC to align their interpretation of ‘replacement value’ with the homeowner’s insurance policy.
2. Within the next four weeks, government should mediate a universal agreement between EQC and the insurers to allow a homeowner to be paid out the agreed total damage figure without having to wait for the internal disputes to be reconciled.
3. The government should immediately convene a working group involving insurers, EQC, PMOs, local authorities and relevant government departments to develop Canterbury specific standardised repair methods and cost ranges that can be applied consistently and with immediate effect. The working group should be required to address:
   
   • The lack of professional best practice
   • Inadequate disclosure of the scope of works
   • Inconsistent application of Department of Building guidelines
   • Homeowner confidence

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW WITH LEANNE PLEASE CONTACT:
Brian Parker - CanCERN Communications Manager - brian@cancern.org.nz or via his cell 0210454458

As reported by

• The Press 27/3/2012
• Addington Action 27/3/2012
• Rebuild Christchurch 27/3/2012
• Stuff 27/3/2012
• NZ Herald 27/3/2012

Day 396 - Coronation St rep

Deborah Hooker is the new rep for Coronation St on the Addington Action committee. Deborah can also use NZ sign language and will act as a translator for members of the deaf community seeking help from Addington Action.

Day 395 - fundraising BBQ at Canterbury Crusaders

Addington Action ran a fundraising BBQ outside the Canterbury Crusaders new home grounds earlier tonight for the veggie garden projects.

Brendon, Trudy, Amanda and Mike cooked and sold 150 sausages for $2 each from 5pm till 6.30pm. We could have sold another 50 to the big crowds.

The fund raising BBQ's will be repeated at other events on a regular basis.

Day 395 - Addington Time Bank

The Addington Time Bank was launched today with a working bee in St Mary's Church Addington.

 I got to cut the ribbon.

The working bee was to take care of the beautiful old historic church and grounds.

Addington Action will be referring many of those needing minor assistance to the time bank, so that it can concentrate on assisting those who are suffering from the worst effects of the quakes and need serious help.

To join the Addington Timebank contact Cherylan at Manuka Cottage ph 338-1613 weekdays.

Day 394 -green room

Today Tony and Mike finished off painting a room 2 coats of green.

To do next week
A little bit of wood trim, wash and paint the window, lay the carpet, pick up curtains and a rail from the Curtain Bank. Then move the woman into her rebuilt bedroom from the garage she is living in.

Day 393 - painting

Today we primed up a room with wall board sealer. Took most of the day.

Day 392 - visit to Bryndwr fruit and veggie co-op

Its 7am and the truck has just arrived at St Aidens Church in Bryndwr. Loaded up with 50 crates of fruit and veggies for the Bryndwr Fruit & Veggie Co-op.

The crates are quickly unloaded with a team of strong helpers and stacked into neat rows for pick packing.

Each order gets a bag of veggies and a bag of fruit, all very fresh and in excellent condition. They are prepaid, cost $10 each and are worth about $25 each.

Today 518 prepaid orders were made up to be distributed all over Christchurch.194 for St Aidens, Bryndwr and 324 for New Brighton, Shirley, Sydenham, etc. Numbers have skyrocketed since the quakes from about 120 because a lot of people are very hungry.

10Kg bags of washed spuds are available for $10 on special pre-order.

The fruit and veggies are purchased each Tuesday by Craig Dixon of Christchurch Cathedral from a farmers market.

In a few weeks time, Addington Action will set up another packing centre for South Christchurch. This will supply packs of fruit and veggies each Wednesday to these distribution centres.

• Opawa Baptist
• Sydenham Community Centre
• Manuka Cottage
• Rowley Resource Centre

It is quite an undertaking and needs to run each week like clockwork. We will need

• 10 Volunteers to help unload and pack each week for an hour
• Cash float (donations please)
• Some basic equipment like 50Kg scales, sack barrow, rubbish bin, broom
• Cartons of new plastic bags
• A subcommittee to run the packing operation, handle the orders, pay the farmers market, return the plastic crates etc.

Day 390 - Oceania rest home workers fight for a living wage

Rest home workers organised by SFWU and NZNO picket Villa Gardens at 207 Lincoln Rd Addington today. Megan Woods, Labour MP for Wigram joined the picket as did representatives of MUNZ and NDU. There were lots of toots of support from passing vehicles.

Hundreds and hundreds of Service and Food Workers Union (SFWU) and New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) members from over 58 Oceania rest homes held nationwide stopworks on 14 March. In Auckland union members marched on Oceania Head Office. Members overwhelmingly endorsed further strike action for today 19 March.

Many rest home workers live in Addington and get very low pay and work long hours. Many are on minimum wage. Government increases in funding to be able to increase wages have been sat on by the company gathering interest.

The Christchurch Oceania rest homes where workers have joined the action are;

• Villa Gardens
  Rest home, hospital and specialist dementia care
  207 Lincoln Rd Addington
• The Oaks Lifestyle Care & Village
  Upper Riccarton
• Holmwood Resthome
  Rangiora 

supported by workers at

• Resthaven Rest Home
  Central City
• Palm Grove Lifestyle Care & Village
  Shirley
• Middlepark Rest Home & Village
  Upper Riccarton

Notice of further action has been given for April 5. Picket protests will be held at Villa Gardens in Addington for each work shift.

Day 390 - intellectually disabled volunteers

This morning I had the opportunity to visit the HQ of the Helen Anderson Trust in Macaulay St Addington.

The Helen Anderson Trust provides support for intellectually disabled people to increase their self-esteem, enjoyment and independence, towards inclusion in their community.

Opportunities will be made for intellectually disabled people to participate in the social solidarity work Addington Action volunteers are doing in the community.

Everyone has a right to be a productive and full member of society.

Look forward to it!

Day 390 - March 14 Christchurch Housing Forum

Reprinted from The Press

Social agencies fear for city's homeless
19/3/2012

By LIZ MCDONALD

Social agencies fear Christchurch's most vulnerable citizens are facing homelessness and say the problem is getting worse.

A shortage of houses since the earthquakes has already pushed up rents and led to reports of tenants forced into poor-quality homes.

"This is the tip of the iceberg, and the iceberg is going to be bigger than Mt Cook," Lana Hart of Settlement Support told a crisis housing forum held in the city.

Settlement Support, which helps refugees and other migrants, is struggling to find suitable homes for new arrivals and Hart expected tradesmen arriving for the rebuild to exacerbate the problem.

"As we get more coming in, they are going to push out the people at the bottom of the market. How can we get more employers to provide their own housing so they are not pushing other people out?"

Anni Watkin, manager of Youth and Cultural Development, said her organisation hunted out beds for 17-year-olds leaving Child, Youth and Family Care. They had placed only one youth in seven months. No more sympathetic landlords with cheap flats or inexpensive hotel rooms were left, she told the forum.

"We are unable to secure any form of tenancy at all now – it's all too dear."

St John of God Waipuna housing worker Paul McMahon said young solo parents and teenagers were "already at the bottom of the housing ladder, and now it's worse.

"If you are 17, or a single person on a benefit, landlords don't want to rent you a house."

Some were being forced back into unsafe situations with step-parents, or into damaged, damp homes.

"We need solutions. If we don't start doing something about this, we are breeding a social disaster," McMahon said.

"We are going to end up with a whole generation of children with bad health."

Other speakers at the forum expressed concern that mental health patients and people with addiction problems would be left homeless, that the housing problems would worsen with winter, and that elderly tenants were scared to complain about unfit housing.

A Christchurch City Council housing officer said one man was given city housing after being found living in his car.

Mary McGrath, supervisor of the Christchurch City Mission night shelter, said the men in its beds had nowhere else to go.

"We are turning people away now."

Penny Taylor, of Presbyterian Support, said property developers needed incentives to build low-cost housing because "single people on low incomes cannot afford to go into these flash subdivisions".

Real estate agent and property manager Tony Brazier told the forum that while three-bedroom houses were the most scarce now, smaller homes would be in demand by overseas tradesmen. Brazier said more lodge-style accommodation was needed along the lines of Wigram Lodge, a Sockburn complex for single people, but that was "already full of construction workers".

A housing register and fitness certificates for rental homes was suggested by Ali Brunel, of the Tenants Protection Association. Brunel said such schemes were common overseas, usually through local councils, and were not expensive or unrealistic.

"We are talking basic, minimum standards, not luxury."

LOST SHELTER

Information given to the forum by government and council officers included:The temporary government villages at Linwood and Kaiapoi are full.

Housing New Zealand lost almost 700 Christchurch state homes in the earthquakes and there are more inside red zones.

Christchurch City Council lost 361 council homes and has 214 people on its waiting list.

Over 1800 people have approached authorities seeking temporary accommodation.

5800 homeowners are receiving rental insurance payouts and another 900 are getting emergency rental allowances.

Day 389 - Addington man dies in house fire

Today Anton Stephen Bozi, a 42 year old Addington man was killed in an early morning house fire at 11 Ruskin St. The Fire Service was notified at 4.55am and units from the City and Addington stations came.

The dead man was well known in the area, was one of those being assisted by Addington Action and will be sadly missed.

Day 389 - CCC Inflexibility a Disaster for Quake Hit Avonside

Reprinted from Avonside Blog
6/3/2012

Sam Johnston of the Student Volunteer Army and the Farmy Army's John Hartnell have stated that the inflexible attitude of Christchurch City Council staff got in the way of volunteers wanting to help quake damaged communities. Our resident's group had similar problems after the February 2011 quake.

Despite there being no electricity or telecommunications working, CCC stuck rigidly to its normal procedure that each individual household had to log on and report they had no water/sewerage, or try and get through on cell phones running out of power to the overloaded CCC helpdesk which rarely answered.

We later met with CCC and said that in future emergencies, someone from our community group would ring our CCC community coordinator to report damage on behalf of all householders. We thought we had it pretty well sorted until the June 13 quake. Despite the best efforts of our CCC community coordinator and our MP, we remained without water.

In a last ditch attempt we managed to contact the CCC manager in charge of water supplies but his response was "How did you get this number". He said a tanker had been sent. None of us saw it.

• We asked him to ring or text us when the next tanker was due so we could tell the couple of hundred affected households and they would be ready and waiting - NO.
• Can the tanker driver sound the horn so we know he is here - NO.
• The streets are full of trucks because of infrastructure repairs. Can the driver put a sign on the truck to show it's a water tanker - NO.

A vintage fire engine appeared briefly but we had no idea it was our water supply, next day a water tanker arrived unannounced after dark. People couldn't plan their lives around erratic, unannounced deliveries of water and left to live in unaffected suburbs.

The council needs to improve communications within its own departments, and with community groups. Volunteers here who tried to help their community by liaising with CCC are now so alienated, it's difficult to find anyone willing to take on this role.

Day 387 - house insulation starts

Community Energy Action on the job today putting in ceiling insulation for a house that Addington Action is fixing.

CEA insulation installers Alex, Matt and Andy

Andy with something that looks like it could be used for catching eels but is the tool of choice for shifting ceiling batts

Day 385 - Community Energy Action Curtain Bank meets

Community Energy Action held a meeting today to promote the Curtain Bank. Held at Opawa Baptist Church at 10.30am, it was very well attended by members of a multitude of community groups who came to find out how the curtain bank works and to share experiences.

Tracy and Mike from Addington Action attended. Addington Action is now able to refer people living in cold homes for free curtains to make it easier to heat.

Addington Action has started working with Community Energy Action over the last month on a pilot project to insulate and heat uninsured homes that have been damaged by quakes that Addington Action is repairing for free.

Unlike Fletchers EQR who have directed contactors NOT to put in wall insulation as part of EQC insurance repairs, Addington Action IS and WILL be putting in free wall insulation as part of any repairs.

Day 384 - Addington Action reopens

After a 2 week holiday break, Addington Action has now reopened. All regular activities will be restarting over the next few days.

There will be another 2 week break in early June.

Day 383 - $10,000 donation from Rotary

Good news - the Christchurch Rotary Earthquake Charitable Trust have agreed to donate $10,000 to Addington Action for the cost of repairs of uninsured homes.

So far the cost the material cost of repairs is working out at about $500 per home so this should be enough to fix 20 which is great.

The cheque is being posted out.

And, over the last few weeks, $300 in total has also been donated by 4 individuals.

Thanks again Rotary.