Government crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants sees rise in eviction warnings

By RNZ

The Government says more eviction warnings and shorter complaint wait times show its crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants is working.

The state landlord has issued 553 “Section 55A notices” since July 2024, up from 41 issued during the same period the previous year.

Around 83% were first-time warnings, 16% second-time warnings and 2% final notices, which allow landlords to apply to terminate a tenancy.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop said Government action taken in March 2024 – cracking down on unruly behaviour – was working.

“Neighbours of Kāinga Ora residents, frequently KO tenants themselves, were tired of having to put up with people who abused the privilege of a taxpayer-funded home – so Ministers declared enough was enough, and instructed the agency to take a stronger approach to managing disruptive tenants,” Bishop said.

“I’m particularly pleased to see that this early intervention is helping spark behaviour change among those tenants who have previously been disruptive.”

Housing Minister Chris Bishop. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Bishop said people were also waiting less time for complaints about disruptive behaviour to be resolved – an average of 15 business days by December 2024.

This time last year Kāinga Ora had more than 500 complaints that had been open for nearly 60 days, Bishop said.

“Kāinga Ora is also continuing to use relocations to a different KO property to prompt behaviour change where there is conflict between neighbouring tenants.

Relocations have taken place 101 times in the period between July and November, and in two-thirds of these cases, Kāinga Ora has not received further complaints about behaviour from these tenants in their new homes,” Bishop said.

“I want to emphasise that the strengthened approach does not have any impact on the significant majority of Kāinga Ora tenants who already do the right thing. In fact, I hope that it has made their lives easier knowing that they don’t need to put up with disruptive behaviour from their neighbours,

“I also want to thank Kāinga Ora staff for their hard work to ensure disruptive behaviour is managed quickly and effectively.”

- RNZ

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