Kids taken from meth state homes

Oranga Tamariki says it uplifted no children due to a Housing New Zealand meth test but the state landlord has confirmed more than 1000 children were evicted from homes.

The agency, also known as the Ministry for Children, has confirmed it received 255 reports of concern from Housing New Zealand (HNZ) during its ‘‘zero tolerance policy’’ using a misapplied meth contamination standard.

A review of these reports showed 40 cases related to a positive meth test, but none resulted in children taken from families ‘‘solely’’ because of the test.

HNZ has confirmed 1112 children were affected in its pursuit and eviction of nearly 800 tenancies deemed contaminated. In releasing a report into the debacle on Thursday, it apologised and offered between $2500 and $3000 compensation to evicted tenants.

National Party leader Simon Bridges is defending his comments that the Government is providing ‘‘compensation for meth crooks’’ after Housing NZ tenants were kicked out of their homes over flawed methamphetamine tests.

But the Government says that’s not true, and that ‘‘people were denied natural justice’’.

About 800 families that would have costs reimbursed were in homes that tested under the new contamination level.

In a report into the issue last week, Housing NZ said that between July 2013 and May 2018,

4958 Housing NZ properties were tested for methamphetamine contamination. That was out of

103,929 tenancies and 70,994 properties in service. Of those tested, 2483 were above the threshold at the time, which has since been found to be too low.

Of the properties found to be affected, 1214 were tenanted at the time of testing. Of those, 264 were rehoused in other HNZ properties. Of the 791 tenants who were considered responsible for the contamination and had their tenancies ended, 275 were suspended from being housed by Housing NZ for a year.

In some cases, Housing NZ had chosen to pay compensation where it was reasonably believed the house was contaminated before the start of a tenancy.

An assistance programme, announced in the report, includes the payment of a discretionary grant to help tenants who experienced hardship as a result of the previous methamphetamine policy. That grant is expected to be from $2500 to $3000 – consistent with payments made to tenants in the past where Housing NZ believed the tenant was not responsible for the contamination.

Bridges criticised the discretionary grants as ‘‘compensation for meth crooks’’ in a tweet on Thursday, in what he said was ‘‘cynical timing by this weak Govt’’.

But Housing and Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said that wasn’t right. ‘‘Housing NZ has also acknowledged that these people were denied natural justice as there was no baseline testing before the test that led to their evictions,’’ he said.

He said anyone convicted of the supply or manufacture of methamphetamine from a Housing NZ house would not receive compensation.

‘‘Contrary to claims by the Opposition, ‘meth crooks’ will not be compensated by Housing NZ,’’ Twyford said.

Defending the comments on Radio NZ yesterday, Bridges claimed Housing NZ chief executive Andrew McKenzie had confirmed over the weekend that the discretionary grant was to be provided in cases where Housing NZ had determined tenants did cause harm through smoking or cooking meth.