Full Breakdown
Cold Converted Garage Puts Disabled Child at Risk This Winter
6/8/2026, 12:39:40 AM
Substandard Garage Endangers a Disabled Child
The Gounder family—Krishneel Gounder, his wife Keshni Gounder, and sons Kiaansh (5) and Kaviansh (2)—live in a converted garage in Manurewa, South Auckland. The space has two tiny bedrooms, a living area with kitchen, laundry, sofa, a hospital bed and a single wall-mounted heat pump. Paper-thin windows and insulation make it cold in winter. Kiaansh, diagnosed with cerebral palsy in 2023, is quadriplegic and depends on tube feeding. Cold worsens his muscle stiffness, swallowing and risk of pneumonia; a mild cough last winter led to a week-long hospital stay.
Housing Crisis and Health Support in South Auckland
Cold housing is common in South Auckland. Paediatric nurse specialist Debra Isaac of Kidz First visits about 50 families weekly, many in cramped rentals like the Gounders’ $480-per-week garage. Kidz First provides nursing, social work, dietetics, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and equipment such as Kiaansh’s motorised wheelchair and electric hospital bed. Dame Valerie Adams, Olympic shot-put champion and Middlemore Foundation ambassador, says the conditions mirror her own damp, mould-filled childhood home.
Data & Statistics
- Rent for the converted garage: $480 per week (excluding power and internet).
- “Jammies for June” aims to deliver 25,000 pairs of pyjamas to families in need.
Official Statements & Responses
Kidz First says its outreach “provides essential health and emotional support to families who otherwise have limited access to care.” The Middlemore Foundation adds that keeping children warm “helps prevent hospital admissions and improves health outcomes.”
Criticism & Opposition
Health workers call the housing a “real problem” and “shouldn’t be like this.” Dame Valerie Adams calls it “almost sickening.”
Verbatim Quotes
- “When it’s winter, we all sleep together on the mattress here on the [living room] floor. We do not sleep in the rooms,” — Keshni Gounder, mother
- “He was admitted [to hospital] with just a little bit of cough [last winter] and he ended up having pneumonia and we were there for about one week for antibiotics.” — Keshni Gounder
- “This is a reality. It shouldn’t be like this, but this is what we see on a daily basis. We try to help, but sometimes it’s not enough,” — Debra Isaac, Kidz First community nurse
- “It’s sad that we’re still here. We [as a country] can do better.” — Dame Valerie Adams
What’s Next
The Middlemore Foundation’s “Jammies for June” will deliver pyjamas and essential items this winter to curb cold-related admissions. Kidz First will keep weekly home visits for the Gounder family.
