The government has delivered Kellie Koia an emphatic 'no”, and she's gutted.

It's a broadside not just for Kellie, but for Tauranga's homeless, destitute and desperate – the people who slip through the cracks and have nowhere else to turn. The people who have become her calling.

Kellie Kioa and Labour's Carmel Sepuloni in ‘the garage'. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Like the family of 16, who had been evicted from their home and were living in three cars. Kellie and her Te Tawharau o Te Ora Trust 'dragged them here”.

'Here” is Kellie's Merivale state house and garage. The house is cold and frugal – the garage more so – but it has become a sanctuary.

'That family ate so much,” she laughs. 'They could make food disappear. And they stayed for three weeks.”

There hasn't been a car in Kellie's garage for seven years. That's because it's been a roof over heads, a stop-gap shelter for more than 100 desperate families which the Trust has taken in since 2008.

'As well as my lounge floor,” says Kellie. The lounge accommodated the spillover. 'So you can't argue there's not a need.”

The Trust had hoped for a leg-up from the government to do its work, and it believed it had been given the nod.

'We may have misinterpreted her intention, but we thought the Minister of Social Housing Paula Bennett had encouraged us to become a Community Housing Provider,” says Kellie. 'We were led to believe we had a strong case.”

That would have made the Trust eligible for income-related rent subsidies to assist the families who Kellie 'drags” homeless and hungry back to her garage.

'We threw our hearts into preparing a case and writing up policy for registration as a provider.”

And when they submitted their case they were told by the social housing unit it was the most thorough ever presented. It was all looking very positive for Kellie, the Trust and those yelling for help.

But then the blow. They didn't fit the criteria to be an emergency housing provider. So the Te Tawharau o Te Ora Trust changed its deed to become a social housing provider. Still, the answer was no.

'It seems there's a pre-requisite for the Trust to already have a property to do its work. Whereas we need help to make that step,” says Kellie.

Kellie is a mother of four, who has little and lives sparingly, but she can always find something to offer people who have even less than her.

She gave up a full-time job – 'My boss would have me back in a flash” – and she and her family live on family tax credits of $286 a week minus $127 rent, so she can help those worse off.

'That is now my mission in life.” The predicament? 'We need a house to take people in.”

The Trust has asked Paula Bennett to drop by Kellie's garage. 'She has met with other providers but has declined our request.”

However, the opposition social development spokesperson Carmel Sepuloni did drop by the garage at this unofficial backstop facility in Merivale.

'The problem is if Paula Bennett did come and see it, she would have to acknowledge that this is the reality for some people,” says Carmel. 'I think they would prefer to think it is not that bad.”

That's a situation highlighted by two very different interpretations of Housing NZ's priority A waiting list for state houses in Tauranga.

'The government says there's just nine on the list. The figure we got back is 175.”

A spokesperson for Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett says: 'The government is absolutely and acutely aware of the housing difficulties faced by some vulnerable New Zealanders and the pressure on emergency housing providers and Minister Bennett is looking at all options.

'In January Minister Bennett announced a $500,000 cash injection and a comprehensive review of the sector to ensure those needs were being met.

'She expects this to be completed within the next couple of months.”

Meanwhile there's still a state house and an empty garage in Merivale, beckoning those with nowhere else to go. They'll be taken in by a Trust and a family with the will and the heart to help.

It's a nippy garage even in early spring – a few strategically scattered mats, a fridge, some beds stacked against the back wall. But by meaning, Te Tawharau o Te Ora is shelter and overall wellbeing

And until they get a hand up, a state house or more suitable premises to do their emergency housing work, the Trust will continue to live and work by its name.