Help Jim Cross - 69 and Living in a Car

Mervyn "Jim" Cross has lived in his little red car near Christchurch Hospital for two months.

By day, the 69-year-old reads Mills & Boon romance novels. By night, he contemplates "ending everything".

His "home" is neat. A sleeping bag tucked discreetly behind the passenger seat where he sleeps. Clothes folded into bags in the boot. He keeps his car registration up to date, pays life insurance and the closest he comes to swearing is saying "sugar".

Jim has $100 spare for rent but cannot find anywhere in Christchurch that is affordable.

Joseph Johnson

Jim has $100 spare for rent but cannot find anywhere in Christchurch that is affordable.

Cross is at the age where he no longer bothers to hide how he feels. Life is not great at the moment.

"I'll be honest with you. Many a time I've thought about ending everything. I've lost me brothers, sisters and mother and father. It still hurts."

He shakes his head as if clearing cobwebs.

"Been close but I'd just say [to myself] I'd struggle on a bit longer and see how things go," he says.

Cross lived in North Canterbury but had to keep travelling into town to "pay bills" each week.

It was costing too much in petrol and cheaper to live in his car.

He did not want to burden his great niece by living with her anymore. He wanted to be independent.

He started sleeping in his car on the side of the road. Cross thought he might get in trouble with the police for being there so he shifted to outside the hospital because it has a toilet.

He has a bad cough, which is getting worse.

Cross is on the pension. He took out some loans so he could live. The repayments are crippling.

After tax, the pension is $374.53. Median rent for a unit in Christchurch is $350, according to Trade Me March figures.

In two months, he will have a bit more spare money as his debts lessen.

From a family of nine, Cross is the only one left.

Cross can reel off the dates his family members died. Tom, Stan, Pip, Doris, Myra and Grace, mum Rose and dad Harold. His bright blue eyes tear up a little more with each date.

"Sometimes I get a bit down, but I'll come right," he says.

His mum's death still hurts the most. She had ill health but always had a hot meal waiting for him at the end of each day. As the youngest, he looked after her, doing the housework once he finished work.

Throughout the years, he has worked as a car groomer and cleaner.

Cross reads constantly - Mills & Boon his preference. He loves to talk about car racing - Woodford Glen Speedway particularly.

On Monday, a family, who wants to remain anonymous, organised for Cross to spend a night in a motel. Then, an extended family member offered a room in a house in Kaiapoi.

"It's until I get back on my feet," he says.