Disabled man faces fourth summer in 'sweat box' motel while allocated state house sits empty

• A New Plymouth man has been in emergency housing at a motel for nearly four years.
• Shane Emeny said he can't move on with life due to the temporary arrangement.
• A state house allocated to him more than a year ago still sits empty.
• Consent for modification work has been granted, and work will soon go out to tender.

A state house offered to a disabled New Plymouth man over a year ago is still sitting empty and only now has building consent for modification work been granted.

Shane Emeny, who is paraplegic, said he's just sweated through another hot summer in the motel room he's lived in for nearly four years while he waits for the house to be ready.

But ACC, which is modifying the property, said such work can be complex and that government agencies are working fast.

RNZ first spoke to Emeny in October, and visited him in December. Snce then, despite the granting of consents, his situation remains unchanged and it's possible he'll mark four years in the Amber Court Motel on 1 July.

He arrived there three months after he fell five metres onto concrete and left the Burwood Spinal Unit in Christchurch.

He expected only a short-term stay in the emergency accommodation, but Kāinga Ora has said they've had difficulties finding a suitable house in New Plymouth.

But even now, after they have located suitable accommodation, he's still waiting.

"The wait is just ridiculous," he said.

"I feel like I'm just sitting here doing nothing - that I haven't got any goals to head towards. I just want to achieve something and, at the moment, I don't feel like anything's being achieved."

The 48-year-old said he first visited the state house allocated to him in October 2023, and it was confirmed for him in February last year.

But the wait to move in has continued and still doesn't have an end date.

"I'm a happy-go-loving, sort of everything guy but, man, it's been tough, especially from a disability position. I haven't been able to see what that feels like and what that growth is in my life yet. It's a struggle."

It's also a struggle living in a motel room that turns into a sweatbox over the summer. It's especially unbearable when his 10-year-old son Liam comes to stay.

"It was the hottest summer that we've had, and I love summer, but I've just been waiting for it to end.

"There's no way to cool down in here. Once it heats up that's what you get. You close up for the night and, with an injury, when you're dealing with pain, it just ramps it up and makes it worse."

Emeny showed RNZ the empty house he's waiting for on Maranui Street, he said just visiting lifted his spirits.

He described the 1970s structure as basic at the moment, although once the alterations were done there would be a wheelchair ramp at the back and a covered area in the front where he can get in and out of his car.

Round the back there's a large, private yard.

"That's one part of the home I'm really looking forward to - to have that space with Liam that's not going to be a concrete car park, like my motel, where we're going to be worried about cars coming in and out.

"There's no worry here at all. This is our space."

Inside, Emeny has plans to create an area where he can paint art works to decorate the walls. In the motel he said he didn't feel inspired to create such works.

ACC deputy chief executive service delivery Michael Frampton said he understood Emeny's frustration, and that he knew he was eager to be in his new home.

"Housing modifications can sometimes be a complex exercise, especially when they are extensive, as is the case here. Building consents and resource consents can take time. This is an aspect that is outside of our control," he said.

"The building consent was approved by [the] council at the end of last week.

"Plans are now back with the housing contractor to seek tenders from tradespeople to carry out the work for both the Kāinga Ora Healthy Home modifications and ACC modifications."

Frampton said all government agencies involved were meeting weekly, and that everyone was working hard to get Emeny the best outcome as fast as possible.

As well as art, Emeny said once he moved house and could concentrate on the future, rather than his daily existence, and he could pursue his goal of sharing his story with businesses and schools as a motivational speaker.

"It's not the fact of being ungrateful or unthankful. It's about, this is not the way things should be done. It's meant to be a temporary thing. Four years is not temporary.

"It's not just what I've had to endure, it's the fact it's all been in silence. There's been not much happening."

Something is happening this Sunday, though.

Emeny is inviting everyone to join him from 11am at Ngamotu Beach as he propels himself the length of the Coastal Walkway and back - all 26km - as a public show of support to him and other disabled people, in an event called Shane's Coastal Walkway Challenge.

He said getting out and about provided a contrast to his life of waiting in the motel room.

"Sitting idle for nearly four years - and it's going to be four years - is not a tough task, because at the end of the day, something will happen. But it's not a task that has value in it."

Kāinga Ora said it had nothing to add to previous statements about how it was working with ACC to get the house modifications done.

The Ministry of Social Development confirmed it's spent more than $197,000 on Emeny's emergency housing.

Gloria Campbell, its regional commissioner for Taranaki, King Country and Whanganui, said the ministry would keep supporting him until a better alternative was available.

It would also provide any assistance Emeny was eligible for when he moved.

"We also want to acknowledge the difficulty his current accommodation causes for Shane and for his son when his son comes to visit."

Responsibility for allocating state houses sat with Kāinga Ora and community providers.

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