SLUMS.

 

PHOTO: BRADEN FASTIER Rebeccca’s flat is dark and dingy, which means it’s cold even in the middle of the day.

Rebecca lives in a block of flats in Richmond on the outskirts of Nelson that were originally built for orchard workers.

The rooms are damp, draughty and dark. And “filthy”, Rebecca says, despite endless cleaning.

In the bathroom, the ceiling sags, and a piece of flannelette fabric has been used to patch a hole in the shower. There’s a gap above the door frame where the bathroom meets the living room, through which you can see the sky.

The hot water tap in the kitchen doesn’t work, so Rebecca uses an old Zip water heater, or fills buckets of hot water in the laundry sink, where ants and bugs sometimes crawl out of the tap, she said.

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