NZ First MP Darroch Ball has come to the aid of a Housing New Zealand tenant who suspected her house was contaminated with P. Ball had tests done on Eileen Gilmour's house in Petone today, even though Housing New Zealand told Te Kāea they would have it tested this week.
Eileen Gilmour suspected her Housing New Zealand flat was contaminated with P.
Ball says they have proof, “We found out about this last week and we know that being months stuck in a house with P is far too long so we organised a test within 15 minutes and it came out to be positive.”
Last week, Te Kāea spoke to Gilmour who said her doctor supported her to get her house tested for methamphetamine after suffering unexplained health problems.
“She wrote me a letter and I took it into HNZ in June last year and I haven't heard a thing,” says Gilmour.
But Housing New Zealand told Te Kāea that they had no record of the letter, but they would test the house this week. By the afternoon, this still hadn’t happened.
Ball says, “Unfortunately we have a situation when the government hasn't acted even though they knew the information.”
In an email to Te Kāea this afternoon, Housing New Zealand said they did act promptly and will undertake tests on Monday.
"The day we were notified by Ms. Gilmour about her concerns we acted promptly. On that same day, we spoke with Ms. Gilmour's daughter, directly reassuring her that we had booked in a methamphetamine test to be conducted the following week. Ms. Gilmour has confirmed to us her daughter did advise her of the test last week. That is going ahead on Monday 18 April.”
“They've been overwhelmed with instances where they had to go out and test and that’s caused delays. This tenant has a doctor’s certificate that has been misplace, misfiled or lost and that is absolutely unacceptable,” says Ball.
So for now, Gilmour will have to wait till Monday for Housing New Zealand to find out more on her house.