Help a mouldy Māori get justice & live spore-free

Hello! My name is Dan and my cat-daughter is Moana/the Honey. I’m a queer autistic person who was forced to leave my home 4 weeks ago due to unsafe living conditions and ongoing illness. As a NZer I do not qualify for Centrelink and most emergency payments. This has been super difficult throughout the year with all of the time I’ve had to take off work. I am currently working on paying off the overdue and upcoming rent and really need your help to get out of my sticky housing situation!

I’ve been renting in Reservoir since April and throughout this time I’ve had ongoing fungal-like infections, lesions around my mouth, nose and body, staph etc. During November my chest broke out in lesions. I am only just getting back to work after two months off, and have been unable to work for at least 2 weeks out of every month due to the infections. It has been so rough as I was really hoping to turn over a new leaf in Reservoir after a year at my Kingsbury depression house, however my lacking confidence, money, and ability to work has really taken a toll.

I have suspected mould in the roof which disperses spore-infestered air through these old air vents into every room of the house. The free 15-minute mould inspectors obviously didn’t check the roof, HVAC, or air quality - so their negative report means that my urgent repair requests mean nothing despite all of the circumstantial evidence (heavy rains, two outdoor water sources including leaking carport roof, my poor health, car mould, scratchy allergy Moana & lots more). Me and Moana left the spore-house just before Christmas after (1) my chest still hadn’t healed after one month, and (2) I spotted some black specks of mould in the carport, gutters, and outdoor furniture.

A few beautiful friends have opened their homes to me and the Honey (Moana) and I have been lent cash over the past months to help me buy food, gas, cleaning equipment, and pay some of the rent. I am unsure what the future holds - so right now my focus is holding the realo/landlord accountable - I want to suss compensation for rent / repair & replacement for all my house items. I can’t move forward with any VCAT tenancy tribunal compliance & compensation applications until I have evidence from an expert. I have contacted an environmental hygienist who has a package service that includes air analysis, lab culture, and a written report for VCAT. I’m hoping the air quality test results might also help to inform all the doctors and dermatologists who think I’m demanding/angry/crazy.

There are many expenses I could list, however these are priority $2350:

(1) *Very important* $1500 is starting rate for mould analysis package

(2) *Less important* ~$300 vet bill to get the Honey checked out and ears de-spored (she has pre-existing food & skin allergies and is a senior lady, and is my rock)

(3) *Less important* ~$250 for mould-specific car detailing as I can no longer use it

(4) *Least important* ~$300 new bedding - single mattress, protector, pillow, blanket

Please help if you can can - I’m in Glenroy if you’d like to help in other ways. And feel free to share!

Lots of love, Dan

P.S. I am happy to chat to anyone about anything - gimme a call! Messaging sometimes works but can be a challenge for my executive malfunctioning butt. I also know a fair bit about services and resources if anyone needs help!