Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Northlander among first round of Housing NZ meth compensation payouts

Danica MacLean
By Danica MacLean
Multimedia Journalist, Newstalk ZB·Northern Advocate·
4 Dec, 2018 09:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Fifty-five people so far have received an average pay out of $7735 to compensate being wrongly evicted from a Housing NZ house after a flawed meth test. Photo/File

Fifty-five people so far have received an average pay out of $7735 to compensate being wrongly evicted from a Housing NZ house after a flawed meth test. Photo/File

A Northlander is among the first 55 people nationwide to be paid compensation for being wrongly evicted from a Housing NZ house after a flawed methamphetamine test.

The Government made a regulation change on Friday so that the payments would not affect any benefit payments, and the first payments were made on Monday.

While Housing NZ would not reveal the individual payment details, Housing Minister Phil Twyford said the average payment so far was $7735.

Each affected tenant has received a formal apology from Housing NZ.

One Double Five Community House's Carol Peters said the community house has dealt with a lot of these cases and are making sure people are aware of their entitlement.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She said the process of losing a house can not only be unsettling but affects family relationships as well.

"Many of the people have gone into crowded living situations because they don't have any alternatives."

As well as being homeless, she said they lost all their furniture.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Twyford said Housing NZ is fronting up and redressing the hardships caused by the meth debacle.

Between July 2013 and May 2018, nearly 5000 Housing NZ properties were tested for meth contamination, but Housing NZ used testing guidelines that had little merit and had cost $100 million in unnecessary tests and clean-up.

About half tested positive for the standard at the time, which was 10 times lower than the new standard that has been in place since May. Many threw out all their belongings because of fear of meth contamination.

"Housing NZ is working with other government agencies to find those affected and contact has been made with 295 people so far. A further 92 assistance claims have been approved, and once an offer has been made and accepted, these payments will be made immediately."

Discover more

New Zealand

Lawyer and actor Kelly Johnson pays tribute to director Geoff Murphy

04 Dec 05:00 AM

Northland has highest use of methamphetamine and fentanyl in NZ

30 Apr 06:00 PM

Housing NZ confirmed there were four Northlanders among those 92 claims that had been approved.

Twyford said Housing NZ is taking a case-by-case approach and reimbursing costs tenants incurred.

"They are making discretionary grants to cover expenses such as moving costs and furniture replacement.

"I committed to having the first payments made by Christmas and our Government is following through. We're committed to putting this right because this systemic failure of government had far reaching consequences for many people."

Housing NZ is asking any other people to come forward who may have been adversely affected, as it has only contacted 295 of about 800 eligible former HNZ tenants.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

Far North homes without power after severe gales

Northern Advocate

'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi

Northern Advocate

Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

Far North homes without power after severe gales
Northern Advocate

Far North homes without power after severe gales

More than 170 customers south of Cape Rēinga are still without power.

17 Jul 08:26 AM
'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi
Northern Advocate

'Economic growth is key': Luxon discusses Northland's potential with iwi

17 Jul 06:02 AM
Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime
Northern Advocate

Northland businesses unite for CCTV initiative to combat crime

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP