Councillor calls for action on illegal rubbish dumping in south Auckland

Wednesday, 27 September 2017

A south Auckland politician is calling on Housing NZ to help stop illegal rubbish dumping.

Manurewa-Papakura Ward councillor Daniel Newman says overcrowding at the agency's properties in Manurewa and 'poor management' are compromising the rollout of wheelie rubbish bins to local households.

The Auckland Council rubbish bins came into force in the former Manukau City Council area on September 4.

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There's no charge for the standard 120 litre bin, but people who think it will be too small for their needs can get a larger 240 litre bin for $55 a year.

Housing NZ is providing the larger bins to all of its properties in south Auckland that have four or more bedrooms.

Newman has written to the agency's chief executive Andrew McKenzie saying rubbish piles and illegal dumping in some parts of his community are impacting on the council's ability to move from collecting rubbish bags to bins.

The problem is worse in neighbourhoods with a high concentration of Housing NZ properties, he says.

'Many Housing NZ properties in parts of my ward are overcrowded and residents are generating far more than 120 litres of rubbish each week.

'I'm … informed that as many as 12 people are living in some Housing NZ properties, the majority of which are three-bedroom tenancies.

'Informal living arrangements such as couch-surfing are … unhealthy and unsustainable.

'Excessive rubbish piling is symptomatic of a problem that's occurring on a potentially large scale in parts of south Auckland.'

Newman is asking McKenzie to extend the rollout of 240 litre bins to all three-bedroom Housing NZ properties in Manurewa.

He's also asking the agency to work to identify and address incidents of overcrowding at its properties in the suburb.

Newman has written to council officers alerting them to what he calls 'significant' rubbish dumping in Clendon.

'Deploying 16 council officers to clean up rubbish and knock on the doors of overcrowded Housing NZ households in just seven streets in Clendon is not a sustainable long-term approach,' he says.

'It's time Housing NZ as well as private landlords supported their tenants to manage their household rubbish.'

The agency's east and south Auckland regional manager Karen Hitchcock says it has a 'good and lengthy working relationship' with the council.

'We regularly meet with council staff on a number of matters.

'We're meeting with them to discuss any concerns around rubbish volumes and wheelie bins and work out how these may best be addressed.'

It's important to note Housing NZ is just one of many property owners and landlords in the area, Hitchcock says.