A pensioner couple wanting to return to Port Chalmers are angered to learn a state house has been vacant in the Dunedin suburb for several years.
Jack (75) and Rosalie (73) Grennell spent the first 40 years of their lives in Port Chalmers before moving north.
Mr Grennell, of Auckland, was shocked to read an Otago Daily Times story last month about a Port Chalmers state house being vacant for nearly four years.
''It got me boiling.''
The couple had lost their financial nest egg and wanted to live out their retirement in the state house in Meridian St, in the suburb where they met and fell in love.
The couple met as teenagers in the 1950s, got married and raised a family in the suburb.
Mr Grennell was a builder and the couple renovated three houses.
One neighbored the home of artist Ralph Hotere and they became good friends.
The couple had more than 20 pieces of Hotere art when they left Dunedin.
''Ralph always said if you get into trouble, sell some of them.''
Trouble loomed after they left Dunedin.
The couple joined a Baptist church group and were ''called'' to Australia to work for the parish.
''We were stuck there for 15 years and that's where we lost our money ... things deteriorated, as they often do in a church situation.''
On returning to Auckland, they gave three of the most valuable Hotere artworks to an Auckland art dealer, who sent them to Wellington for auction, Mr Grennell said.
Before the art reached auction, the Auckland dealer died and the paintings were never recovered, despite a legal battle.
''We lost our retirement fund,'' Mr Grennell said.
The couple applied for a state house in Auckland two years ago, but were told they were not eligible.
They applied again for an Auckland state house in December and were told they were not ''desperate'' enough, he said.
''We don't meet their criteria because we are too well off, and we're not.''
The couple lived on a combined pension and had about $7000 savings.
The cottage they rented cost $375 a week.
Mrs Grennell had Parkinson's disease and Mr Grennell needed a hip replacement.
After reading the ODT story, he called HNZ to ask if they could move into the state house and was told to call the Ministry of Social Development, who told him the couple were not eligible.
He began leaving messages with HNZ area manager Kate Milton.
Eventually, Ms Milton told Mr Grennell the state house would be put on the market and would not be available to rent.
As the couple had no intention of buying the house, they had stopped chasing the dream of living in it, Mr Grennell said.
