Ōtara Kāinga Ora tenant evicted after repeatedly abusing agency staff

An Ōtara Kāinga Ora tenant has been evicted after the agency told him to remove his dogs from the property. Photo / NZME

A Kāinga Ora tenant has been evicted from his home after repeatedly becoming aggressive and yelling “f*** you” at staff when he was told to remove his dogs from the property.

The agency applied to end Vena Funaki’s period tenancy at the Ōtara house, arguing that he swore at staff, and was aggressive and intimidating.

But to have Funaki’s tenancy terminated by the Tenancy Tribunal, Kāinga Ora had to show three incidents of anti-social behaviour had occurred in three months.

According to the tribunal’s recent decision, it was able to do so.

The first incident occurred in a Kāinga Ora office in September last year when Funaki met to discuss his dog allegedly attacking a tradesperson, as well as the condition of the property.

As the meeting was coming to an end, Funaki yelled “f*** you” at two staff members and continued to use explicit language in the foyer as he left the building.

Two weeks later, two Kāinga Ora staff visited the Bairds Rd home to check the dogs had been removed, as discussed at the earlier meeting.

The decision stated Funaki was aggressive when he answered the door and during the conversation, became agitated.

He told the pair to “f*** off“, the decision noted, describing Funaki as yelling and being aggressive and intimidating.

A month later, on October 31, two senior housing support managers visited the property after reports the dogs were still there, and again to discuss the condition of the house.

Funaki told the pair he had the dogs and would challenge Kāinga Ora in court.

The decision stated that as the pair left the property, Funaki used “unacceptable language”, including yelling at them to “f*** off” and waving his arms.

Funaki denied receiving two of three notices Kāinga Ora said it had fixed to his front door, as well as leaving a copy in his letterbox after each incident.

The tribunal found Kāinga Ora had provided Funaki with the necessary written notice after each incident and hadn’t acted in a retaliatory way.

It ordered the tenancy to be terminated and for Funaki to be evicted.

A different approach

When approached by NZME about the case, Kāinga Ora said it didn’t comment on Tenancy Tribunal decisions but referred to information relating to disruptive behaviour on its website.

That information stated that as of July last year, the agency had changed its approach to disruptive behaviour by its tenants.

It noted this included working to understand what’s driving the behaviour and referring tenants to specialist social and health services to address underlying issues if needed.

However, if behaviour did not change, it would end tenancies and not offer the tenant another home, it stated.

Data on its website showed that in the current financial year, 63 tenancies have been terminated without offering a tenant another home, compared to 12 in the year before.

Catherine Hutton is an Open Justice reporter, based in Wellington. She has worked as a journalist for 20 years, including at the Waikato Times and RNZ. Most recently she was working as a media adviser at the Ministry of Justice.