Kāinga Ora rent arrears forgiveness sees $127,000 turn into $6541 for just five Waikato tenants

Tuesday, 15 April 2025

The five largest Kāinga Ora debtors in Waikato have seen a combined $120,612 in rent arrears wiped out - with one tenant seeing their unpaid bill shrink by almost $25,000.

The debt reductions, down to 12 weeks’ worth of rent, have been labelled “positive” from one side of the political spectrum, while another said the debt forgiveness “sends the wrong message” to those who pay their rent on time.

The Waikato Times revealed back in February that five Waikato Kāinga Ora tenants owe $127,000 in rent between them, with the biggest single debt at $33,000.

Later, we revealed their rent arrears would be slashed to just 12 weeks’ of rent.

Now the Waikato Times can reveal just how much debt has been wiped for each of the five tenants, and what the main political parties’ housing spokespeople think of the debt reductions.

According to data supplied by the state housing agency, the largest single rent reduction saw one tenant’s bill slashed from $25,181 to $961 - a reduction of $24,200.

One tenant saw their bill shrink by $23,306 - down from $25,094 to $1788.

Another saw their bill reduced by $20,393 from $23,337 to $2944, while another saw their $20,368 debt become $848 - a reduction of $19,520.

The largest single debtor - who owed $33,173 - appears to have had their entire debt wiped, as they appear to have ended their tenancy.

In total a combined debt of $127,153 at the end of January 2025 now stands at $6541 as of the end of March 2025, a combined $120,612 reduction.

Unsurprisingly, reaction to the debt forgiveness varied across political lines.

“Wiping these debts if a positive step from Kāinga Ora, but they’re not doing it out of charity,” said Green MP and party housing spokesperson Tamatha Paul.

“Their reasoning for reducing people’s debts is because they think they’ll get more of it repaid that way,” she said.

“Nobody should be going into debt for housing. That’s a failure of our social support systems. We’d support cancelling more debt so fewer social housing tenants are left in financial strife.”

Act’s housing spokesperson, Cameron Luxton, took a different view.

“Writing off a tenant’s debt means taxpayers have to pick up the bill,” he said.

“Taxpayers expect support to be a hand up, not a handout. It also sends the wrong message to those tenants who do work hard to ensure their rent is paid each week.

“If a tenant is unable to fulfil the basic responsibilities of being a good tenant, the property should be instead rented to someone who can.”

Luxton said that with Act in Government, they had taken action to “ensure tenants in taxpayer-owned houses pay their rent on time”.

“Kāinga Ora should be implementing those changes,” he said.

“If the changes the Government has made so far are not enough to curb the problem, further action may be necessary. ACT campaigned on additional solutions such as only requiring sign-off from the service unit manager, not the deputy chief executive and chief executive to terminate a tenancy.”

Associate Housing Minister and Hamilton West MP Tama Potaka said that under the previous Government, “tenants were allowed to build up so much debt that it became unrealistic for them to repay”.

“Between 2017 and 2023, the total debt owed to Kāinga Ora by its tenants increased from $1 million to $21 million,” he said.

“This isn’t in anyone’s best interests – not for tenants or taxpayers. The new rent debt policy Kāinga Ora introduced in February changed that.”

Potaka said the Kāinga Ora board “made a pragmatic decision to help some tenants with significant rent debt to get on top of their debt faster by reducing the amount they owe”.

“It’s about bringing the rent debt down to a level that is more realistic for the tenant to repay in full, with the right payment arrangement in place.”

He also said the reductions were only for tenants who had more than 12 weeks’ worth of rent debt at the start of February, and “who are consistently paying their rent and making reasonable payments to reduce what they owe”.

“They will have a strong incentive to do this under Kāinga Ora’s new rent debt policy, which makes it clear that if tenants don’t make a genuine effort to repay what they owe, they will be putting their tenancy at risk.”

Labour MP and housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty told the Waikato Times “people should pay the debt they owe but it should be a conversation with Kāinga Ora and tenants’ circumstances vary”.

Te Pati Māori failed to respond to Waikato Times request for comment.