‘It’s just not a safe-feeling place’

Residents living on a Hastings street want answers from Ka¯inga Ora after multiple complaints were made about tenants in one of its houses over two years, including late night fights and police callouts.

Dufferin St – pictured below – is lined with lush trees, neatly trimmed lawns and tidy gardens. On a weekday morning, the street is quiet, curtains drawn and doors locked but some said they no longer felt safe on the street.

Residents have said since Ka¯inga Ora moved new tenants into the house two years ago, seven families have moved because of concerns about the behaviour of people at the Ka¯inga Ora property. One former resident said within days of the tenants moving in, police were called after a fight from the address spilled out onto the street.

Other neighbours said fighting, arguing, swearing and car noise occurred on a regular basis.

A former resident, who wished to remain anonymous out of concerns for his family, said he contacted Ka¯inga Ora several times when he lived on Dufferin St. He eventually sold up and moved in late 2019.

‘‘We would call the police at least once a week . . . you’d hear children at 12 to 1 in the morning screaming. The cops would then turn up and the tenants would scream at them to get off their property, it was pretty awful.’’

An email to the man from Ka¯inga Ora in June last year said it had received 25 official complaints since the beginning of the tenancy, but he believed the number was incorrect. ‘‘I know I complained more than 25 times,’’ he said.

Another resident, who had lived on the street for more than 20 years and asked not to be named for safety reasons, said the fighting was ‘‘constant,’’ but he never called the police. ‘‘You don’t have to. They show up within minutes anyway, it’s just not a safe-feeling place to be any more.’’

A woman at the Ka¯inga Ora address said she was aware of the complaints, but said residents on the street had never approached her personally and the ‘‘police hadn’t been over in a while’’.

‘‘We’re moving anyway because the landlord has found me another house, they [the neighbours] will have to be patient,’’ she said.

The woman said she felt like she had ‘‘no privacy’’ and was looking forward to a ‘‘fresh start’’ for her and her family. ‘‘I’ve got a 16 and 18-year-old, and they’re working now, it’s their first job, so things are changing. Things are getting better actually,’’ she said.

One woman moved to the street and said her family’s world ‘‘was turned upside down’’ after six months of living in her new home. She said there was ‘‘constant fighting, screaming, things getting smashed’’ at the Ka¯inga Ora address.

A young mother who had lived on the street for nine years also moved out of the neighbourhood because of concerns about the address. She said she had contacted Ka¯inga Ora over two years but was told the same thing – the situation ‘‘was being investigated’’.

The woman shared a document with Stuff that identified 67 calls made to police regarding the address since January 1 to September 27, 2020.

‘‘I just feel Ka¯inga Ora as a government organisation needs to be held accountable. They should’ve sorted out their tenants a long time ago instead of it getting to this point,’’ she said.

The woman believed she was one of seven who had left the street since the new Ka¯inga Ora tenants moved in.

Regional Director East North Island, Ka¯inga Ora – Homes and Communities Naomi Whitewood confirmed Ka¯inga Ora had contact from neighbours in the area and were working ‘‘closely and constructively with a number of people and agencies to resolve some of the questions raised as quickly as possible’’.

‘‘This is a very complex area to comment on as a housing provider, with the justice and local government systems setting legally enforceable standards for behaviour, and having set processes for determining whether those standards are breached.’’

Police refused to comment on call-outs to the address and the street for ‘‘privacy reasons’’.