Gran’s new lease on life
A Hamilton grandmother who once lived in fear of an abusive Kainga Ora neighbour says enforcing tenancy rules could be an “incentive” for change in others.
Sitting in her garage with the door wide open, Maria Barrett “is not afraid of anything” since an unruly neighbour was finally evicted after repeated calls to Kainga Ora.
Life for the now 69-year-old was once confined to her unit Hamilton unit when the Waikato Times first visited in 2022, living in in fear of a neighbour who, at one stage drawn a knife and threatened to kill.
“All I know is [the tenant] was evicted and I was happy with that, I didn’t want to know where or how, just as long as he was gone.
“I feel safer, I can leave my doors open, I’m not afraid of anything now, before I would never leave the garage open, I’d close it right up, and my front door is open all day.”
The Government is pushing the agency to evict threatening, disruptive tenants who damage property and crack down on rent arrears.
Housing minister Chris Bishop
ordered the agency to focus on core functions like strengthening the management of disruptive tenants, sorting an escalation in rental arrears, tenanting vacant properties as quickly as possible and delivering new social housing places in line with targets.
“As part of Kāinga Ora’s focus on core functions we expect them to end their Sustaining Tenancies Framework, which has allowed tenants to stay living in a KO home no matter how threatening or disruptive their behaviour, or how much damage they cause to the property,” Bishop said in a statement. For Barrett, a great-grandmother and Korowai designer, having some reprieve from the unruly neighbour that once ruled their street has given her and the surrounding tenants a new lease on life.
While she can see that some may “retaliate”, she hopes the tougher stance towards anti-social behaviour would be an “incentive” for tenants to take better care of their properties and those around them.
“It would be great. Maybe then they’ll look after the place, you look at these tenants and landlords where because they can’t pay their rent, they smash the place up.”
But Joanne Turner, manager of the Hamilton Christian Nightshelter - Te Whare Korowai Taangata o Kirikiriro, said her initial reaction was one of concern.
People who are evicted under the Government’s plans to crackdown on disruptive Kāinga Ora tenants will end up on the streets, Turner said.
“Over the last four years we've increased our bed capacity from 30 to now having 75 and being really concerned that we're going to have to triple, quadruple our capacity because ultimately, if people are going to get evicted from their properties and end up on the street, then they're gonna end up with us.”
There are complexities associated with the people who are likely to be facing eviction, Turner said, and there’s a lot of support that is required and those supports “aren’t forthcoming”.
“It’s extremely worrisome for me to be considering what might be ahead.”
In 2023 there were 234 reports of disruptive behaviour in Hamilton, according to data from an Official Information Request response from Kāinga Ora.
Disruptive behaviour includes behaviour that is aggressive, threatening or intimidating to neighbours, other customers or Kāinga Ora staff, the agency said in its response.
In 2022 that number was 563, however the state housing organisation said it had since changed how it grouped complaints in its system, meaning that figure also included “minor” complaints about things such as noisy cars, lawns not being mowed or how often visitors come by.