Hawaiiki Edwards lives with her mother and brother and says their house gets around 20 minutes of direct sunlight per day.

Their house is so cold they keep their fire burning 24 hours a day, and their washing doesn't dry because it doesn't see the sun.

Martin Edwards says the Porirua state house where his former partner and their two teenage children are living is a health hazard and "needs to go".

He said he was not surprised by recent deaths linked to damp state houses, and feared for his family's health.

ASHTEN MACDONALD Hawaiiki Edwards, 18, says her mother has health problems and should never have been given their state house in Rangituhi St, Porirua.

Muuroa, 20, and Hawaiiki, 18, and their mother moved into the house in Rangituhi St, Elsdon – which Edwards called the coldest, darkest house on the street –for six weeks, and already they want out.

Edwards is worried for their health and for that of their mother, who suffers from a weak heart brought on by childhood rheumatism from growing up in a damp state house.

Muuroa and Hawaaiki's 3-year-old half-brother has been moved out of the house until the family can move somewhere safe, warm and dry.

ASHTEN MACDONALD / FAIRFAX NZ Hawaiiki Edwards' bedroom windows in her family's Porirua state house are wet with condensation.

"It doesn't get the sun at all," Edwards said. "It's backed right up against the hill, and the house sits on a old riverbank covered up.

"The water comes up waist-high when it rains like it did four weeks ago."

The family had moved Muuroa's bed into the lounge because his room was so cold, Edwards said.

"I don't even know if it's insulated. They say it is, but there is no natural warmth. The fire has to be burning 24/7 and that's pretty hard to do."

Their washing would hang on the line for three sunny days and still be wet, so Edwards now took it to the laundromat to dry.

READ MORE: How have housing conditions come to this?

The family's concerns follow the reported deaths of an Auckland father and a South Auckland toddler who died after living in damp, cold state housing.

Soesa Tovo, a father of six who was being treated for heart and lung problems, died on August 15 last year, despite his doctors and the district health board making numerous requests that he be moved from his Housing New Zealand home in Papakura.

In early June, a coroner's decision revealed the death of South Auckland 2-year-old Emma-Lita Bourne was connected to her family's cold, leaky state house.

Edwards' family said they asked to be moved just three weeks after moving in. However, Housing NZ acting general manager property services Robert Galvinsaid the house was in the best condition it had been for some time.

"We invested just over $12,000 in the property, including new curtains, painting, carpet and general maintenance and repairs, just before this tenant moved in.

"It has underfloor and ceiling insulation, and the underfloor insulation is scheduled to be upgraded in the next two weeks as part of our regular insulation upgrade programme."

Property managers visited the house to check on the family after the May floods, but nobody was home, he said.

Housing NZ had agreed to meet the tenant this week.

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