Kāinga Ora moves on 'disruptive households' but neighbours say it's not enough

Sunday, 10 July 2022

Feilding woman Caroline Hay says she has been terrorised by another Kāinga Ora tenant, yet Kāinga Ora has done little to help her.

Kāinga Ora has received hundreds of complaints about problem tenants and has moved dozens on since changes were made to the Residential Tenancies Act.

But some people don’t feel enough is being done to protect neighbours from tenants’ disruptive behaviour.

Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act earlier this year meant Kāinga Ora could give tenants a warning for serious disruptive behaviour and if a tenant received three warnings within 90 days, Kāinga Ora could apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to end the tenancy.

Information released to Stuff under the Official Information Act showed Kāinga Ora received 1858 complaints from February 1 to April 30.

Maria talks about her experiences living in fear at her Kāinga Ora home alongside other residents due to a disruptive neighbour who has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill.

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All complaints, ranging from not mowing a lawn or car noise to more serious behaviour, go into one category and could not be broken down into what each complaint was for, a Kāinga Ora spokesperson said.

Auckland had the most complaints in that period with 819, Christchurch second with 186 and Hamilton third with 154. Wellington had 68, Whangarei 66, Palmerston North 43 and Napier 39.

Since January, 62 households were relocated by agreement for disruptive behaviour.

There had been no instances of a tenant receiving three warnings, so Kāinga Ora had not applied to the Tenancy Tribunal to end a tenancy, or evicted anyone.

Kāinga Ora’s Taranaki Whanganui Manawatū director Graeme Broderick says most tenants are good neighbours, but a few cases of disruptive behaviour causes stressful and unacceptable conditions for neighbours.

Kāinga Ora said most of the time it was able to “resolve matters or initiate a move for the customer without needing to resort to eviction”.

Between February 1 and May 5, four warnings were issued for serious behaviour, with one tenant given a second warning.

Kāinga Ora’s Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatū director Graeme Broderick said most of Kāinga Ora’s 200,000 tenants were good neighbours, but a small number of cases of disruptive behaviour “caused stressful and unacceptable conditions” for neighbours, which it was committed to responding to.

Kāinga Ora’s first approach was to support a behaviour change, but it could also issue breach and warning notices.

It had seen encouraging signs of tenants changing their behaviour, Broderick said.

Caroline Hay lives in Kāinga Ora housing in Feilding in Manawatū, where there had been 11 complaints in the time period.

Hay has been living in fear after being terrorised by a neighbour in another Kāinga Ora house next door. The man threatened her and another neighbour, and damaged their property.

She said even though the man was now living in mental health residential care, his house was sitting empty and she still felt unsafe.

She didn’t think Kāinga Ora did enough to protect people from bad behaviour.

“No they don’t because our calls weren't heard until we went to the media. They jumped up and down and said ‘we will relocate you’, but my son and I are happy here.

“I’ve been here 12 years, we don't want to move.”

A woman who lives in Westbrook in Palmerston North, who didn’t want to be identified for safety reasons, had problems living next to a Kāinga Ora house and made multiple complaints about the tenant.

She felt ignored by Kāinga Ora, so hired a lawyer to ask the organisation to move the tenants on. They left three weeks ago, she said.

“I don't think [Kāinga Ora] took me seriously until I got a lawyer involved. They kept saying ‘yes, yes, yes’, for two or three weeks, then it didn't happen. I shouldn't have to get a lawyer involved.”

The woman believed the tenant would still be there if she hadn’t got a lawyer involved.

She felt the same as Hay about Kāinga Ora’s efforts to protect neighbours from disruptive tenants.

“Kāinga Ora does its best to ignore the situation and postpone as best they can.”

Broderick couldn’t go into specifics about Hay’s situation without privacy waivers, but said Kāinga Ora was working with the tenants and other agencies to come up with a solution.

Of the Westbrook situation, Broderick said neighbours could not be expected to put up with “intolerable situations” and Kāinga Ora was committed to responding to disruptive behaviour.

“However, the process we need to follow in these situations can take time, which we appreciate can be challenging for neighbours.”

Broderick said it took longer than expected to find a new home for the tenant.