Kāinga Ora neighbours from hell: Mum’s emotional interview

The Hamilton mum who says she is being effectively kept prisoner in her home by Kāinga Ora “neighbours from hell” has given an emotional radio interview revealing the true toll of her ongoing battle with the agency to remove neighbours who regularly threaten and abuse her and her family.

Katelyn Park spoke to Newstalk ZB Afternoon’s Simon Barnett and James Daniels today to voice her frustration after a ZB exclusive this morning revealed that the Government agency has only evicted three tenants in the past 18 months - despite receiving more than 10,000 complaints.

Park broke down as she admitted she finds it hard to return home after work each day.

The solo mother-of-four has lived with the neighbours for years, repeatedly complaining to Kāinga Ora, and has stayed strong for her kids.

But today, as she spoke of the frustration she feels at the agency’s inaction, the emotion rose to the surface.

“I’ve just had enough,” she said tearfully. “They have no idea the impact that this is having on me and my kids.

“I cry every single day because of this. I need to get out of there before this or they kill me.

“They’ve threatened to burn my house down, they’ve threatened to bash me and my mum, they’ve threatened to kill my animals.

“How far does this have to go?”

Park told ZB that the situation is so bad that she wants to quit the country, but remains stuck with the property.

She says Kāinga Ora should buy her out.

“It’s not some, you know, old s*** box, just buy my house, pay me some compensation and I’ll be out like I’ll be gone,” Park said.

“I’ll be on the next bloody flight to Australia.

“That’s how, how bad the situation is.”

“I just don’t even want to be in New Zealand anymore.”

Host James Daniels told Park: “The ball is now in KO’s court.”

Since the Herald first broke the story, Park has met with Kāinga Ora, who she says has told her efforts are underway to find a solution but say they were unable to provide details.

The ‘neighbours from hell’ keeping her prisoner

Park, who lives with her children aged 14, 10, 9 and 6, says that she has repeatedly complained to Kāinga Ora but the agency only responded when she shared a TikTok video about her struggles and it went viral.

The video, posted on May 14, shows her mother, who was visiting the home, being confronted by the Kāinga Ora tenants after she asked them to turn down their music.

The tenants scale the fence bordering the two properties, verbally harassing her mother and spraying her with liquid.

Park’s son can also be heard throughout the altercation, repeatedly asking his mother for a creaming soda, seemingly nonplussed by the confrontation.

The bizarre scenes saw the video go viral and be shared by news sites in Australia and the United Kingdom - but when the Herald contacted the long-suffering mum, she revealed the problems go much deeper.

Park said that she was “being made to feel like they have more rights to live there than I have to live in my home, where I have been raising my children for 10 years” after Kāinga Ora failed to act.

She told the Herald that in just three weeks earlier this year she had to call police four times, including twice at the request of the troublesome tenants themselves after instances of alleged domestic violence.

On one occasion, Park said one of the tenants asked her to call police after finding the woman sitting on the fence cradling an infant and complaining she had been assaulted.

Park later discovered that the woman had sought refuge inside her home, leaving her baby’s dummy behind.

Just over a week later she was back on the phone to police after she was woken at 4am by her 14-year-old son who told her there was a man banging on his bedroom window “covered in blood”.

She confronted the man while on the phone and said he was “rambling on” and “having a punch up with the air”.

He left and the family struggled to sleep until dawn came and they saw that same man on the back deck of the Kāinga Ora property and realised that what they had thought was blood was facial tattoos.

The man also sported a Black Power gang patch tattooed on his back.

Police were called and the man was arrested for unlawfully being on her property.

Park told the Herald that police had told her that the man was under the influence of methamphetamine.

Police confirmed that the arrest was made.

Her children have also been directly targeted by her neighbours and subjected to a stream of expletives.

She told the Herald a female tenant recently yelled at her children as they played outside: “This is my f***ing backyard!”

Park claimed the tenant also added a vile insult: “Your mum’s a c***!”.

Police have made more than 90 callouts to the house during the neighbours’ tenancy. We know that number because Park asked for it, going through the Official Information Act process to show just how regularly police visited the property.

Park also provided the Herald with a long list of examples of antisocial behaviour and evidence to back it up - including rubbish fires being lit in the backyard that flooded her property with smoke.

Her children also witnessed a man who had fled the neighbouring property during a police raid being crash tackled in her backyard earlier this month.

Police also confirmed the details of that incident.

Park, who works in her community supporting victims of crime, told the Herald today that she feels like her “life is so consumed by this”.

“My life should be consumed with doing what I love, helping people and yet Kāinga Ora can’t even help me.”

Mark Rawson, Kāinga Ora’s regional director for Waikato, told the Herald that work to help was underway.

“We know how upsetting and frustrating this has been for Katelyn and her family, and we’re doing everything we can to resolve this situation as soon as possible, including the option to move the customer. It does take time which we know is really difficult, but we want to provide assurance that we are taking action, and taking this extremely seriously.

“We urge Katelyn to keep getting in touch with our dedicated point-of-contact we have provided, at any time that she needs support while we work through this.”

Chris Marriner is an Auckland-based journalist covering trending news and social media. He joined the Herald in 2003 and previously worked in the Herald’s visual team.