Tougher line on tenants applauded

Neighbours who suffered death threats pleased at changes

A Whangārei retired couple still suffering psychological damage from threats and abuse by their Kāinga Ora neighbour are pleased the government agency will take a tougher line on problem tenants.

The couple, who withheld their name due to ongoing safety concerns, had to put up with threats and intimidation from the neighbour, and her patched gang member boyfriend, for eight months before Kāinga Ora moved them.

The gang member amassed 39 criminal charges over that time — including threatening to slit his neighbour’s throat and watch him bleed to death — and is now in prison.

This week, Housing Minister Chris Bishop instructed Kāinga Ora to take a tougher stance on tenants with persistent antisocial behaviour, including evicting them.

He ordered Kāinga Ora’s board to scrap the Sustaining Tenancies Framework, which aimed to sustain tenancies and avoid making people homeless, while also balancing obligations to communities.

Bishop said the framework had removed incentives for tenants to improve their behaviour, with just three tenancies ending in 2023 due to disruptive behaviour, despite there being 335 serious complaints a month.

The Whangārei couple are pleased with the change in direction, after experiencing the worse from Kāinga Ora tenants with whom they shared a driveway.

The tenants made death threats, yelled racist and offensive messages, had numerous out-ofcontrol parties, threatened to damage the couple’s property, frequently damaged their own house and stalked the woman outside court when she filed a restraining order.

The events happened in 2021 but the woman, in her 60s, continues to need counselling f or posttraumatic stress.

Kāinga Ora’s long delay in evicting the problem tenant has added to the trauma, with the couple successfully taking the agency to the Tenancy Tribunal for failing to ensure their reasonable peace, comfort and privacy, she said.

“We had eight months of being terrorised by the gangs,” she said.

“Sure, everybody deserves a home, but do taxpayers have to fork out for the damage that they do including making holes int he walls, kicking walls in, smashing doors — all this happened but they [Kāinga Ora] refused to evict them.”

The couple said their Christian faith has helped them get through the trauma and they refuse to cower to the gang.

The woman said she hoped to help other people going through similar issues, including some too afraid to go outdoors and too afraid to speak to media, even anonymously.

She also had concern for the problem neighbours, saying she was worried they were not being encouraged to get the help they so obviously needed.

Other Whangārei residents have also experienced similar problems with certain Kāinga Ora residents.

At a meeting in Ruakākā last month, residents spoke of a “family from hell” who took more than 18 months to move out. Neighbours witnessed animal abuse, drug use, fighting, yelling and windows being smashed before the problem tenants were moved on.

Kāinga Ora already making changes on disruptive behaviour

Kāinga Ora general manager — national services Nick Maling said the organisation will work to the Government’s direction and will remove the Sustaining Tenancies Framework.

“We already have work under way to make changes to our approach to addressing disruptive behaviour and rent arrears.

“We don’t expect anyone to put up with awful situations, which is why we use the tools available to us under the Residential Tenancies Act to address disruptive behaviour when it occurs.”

These tools include warning notices, referrals to social and health services, voluntary and required relocation, through to outright termination of tenancies, used in situations that are severe, persistent or threatening.

“Which tool we use in a situation depends on the circumstances, who is in the home and the drivers of the behaviour,” Maling said.

In situations where the problem client is not provided another Kāinga Ora home, the agency ensures the tenant has a more suitable housing option, including working with alternative housing providers.

Maling said the disruptive behaviour comes from less than 1 per cent of Kāinga Ora’s 70,000 tenancies, with an average of 335 serious disruptive behaviour complaints monthly over the past three months, relating to 245 tenancies.

“Most of our customers make good neighbours and contribute in big and small ways to their communities.”

The Green Party has come out against the Government’s move to encourage more evictions for problem tenants, saying it will push the most vulnerable people towards homelessness.

Housing spokeswoman Tamatha Paul said the Coalition Government is “ignorant to the consequences of poverty”.

“It is particularly cruel for the Government to look to punish state housing tenants for struggling to pay rent at a time when it is actively reducing benefits and the income of struggling households.”

"Sure, everybody deserves a home, but do taxpayers have to fork out for the damage that they do."

Whangārei retiree