Social housing provider follows HNZ’s lead

Community social housing provider Accessible Properties says it will follow Housing New Zealand in changing its meth standards.

But a lawyer says private providers will continue to act more harshly than the publicly-owned Housing New Zealand (HNZ).

Accessible Properties, a subsidiary of intellectual disability services provider IHC, owns most of the social housing in Tauranga, after being sold it by HNZ in 2016.

In late 2017, the provider threw Timothy DaltonEdwards out of his home after a positive meth reading on a test he asked for himself.

Last week a Government report made it clear that HNZ and many other landlords had been testing to a standard that was far too low, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in wasted testing and clean-up, and hundreds of tenants needlessly being moved on or evicted from properties.

The Chief Science Advisor’s (CSA) report showed there was no evidence of anyone ever getting sick from a house or space where meth had only been smoked, not produced. For years HNZ had used a Ministry of Health guideline meant as a standard to clean up properties where meth had been produced as a trigger for cleaning when only use was suspected.

HNZ immediately raised its trigger to 15mg per

100cm2, in line with the report’s recommendations – and said they would test only when heavy use or production was suspected.

Accessible Properties chief executive Greg Orchard said they would also raise their standard.

‘‘We aim to utilise the best advice and evidence available when undertaking our work,’’ Orchard said.

‘‘The CSA’s report is now the best advice we have and we will use the findings and recommendation to revise our policies and practice including assessing when we will undertake future testing.’’

Tenant and mother Natachia Millan said the news was too little too late. She told Stuff last week she had received a 90-day termination notice from her property after a positive meth reading.

Accessible Properties had taken Millan to the Tenancy Tribunal over rent arrears and the issue of whether or not they could do a follow up test after finding a cumulative methamphetamine reading of

140mg but failed to terminate the tenancy.

It is not clear if any individual spot reading was over the new 15mg standard and Accessible Properties refused to comment on the individual case.

‘‘I just feel like I’ve been picked on like the rest of them. They just want us out of the neighbourhood,’’ Millan said. ‘‘We’ve had no health problems at all.’’

Unlike a regular eviction, a 90-day termination of a tenancy does not require a cause – as long as landlords aren’t discriminating.

Lawyer Michael Sharp, who represented Millan at the tribunal and another Accessible Properties tenant all the way to the High Court, said cases like Millan’s showed the legal loophole of the 90-day notice.

‘‘They’re acting perfectly legally. New Zealand is unlike other countries in that our social housing providers don’t have to have any reason to terminate tenants.’’ Tenant Natachia Millan