Watch NZH Local Focus: The flow-on effect from New Zealand's P problem

Decontaminating a house where methamphetamine has been manufactured or used is a long and difficult task.

Founder Director of Anpure Group Mike Williams says the clean-up time varies, "anything from one day to a week depending on how thorough you're going".

"A strip out can take anywhere from a few days to just over a week."

Then add another month for more testing and a clearance certificate to be issued before finally, people can move in.

But there is no national standard regulating this industry.

And there is a limited number of specialists approved by Housing New Zealand to do the job properly

That's putting a strain on social housing, especially in Hawke's Bay.

Whatever It Takes Trust Inc [WIT] General Manager Caroline Lampp says there are currently several empty houses.

"As Housing New Zealand works through that there are a number that will be empty for some time before they're cleaned up."

Mrs Lampp says this then has a "flow-on effect" into social housing.

"There are so many people waiting for houses that it just prolongs their time on the waiting list."

Housing New Zealand records show the number of their houses in Hawke's Bay which are contaminated is rising.

They only work with two testing companies and three decontamination contractors in Hawke's Bay.

Anpure is one of those contractors.

Mr Williams says there was a surge in the Hawke's Bay region midway through last year.

"We started getting a lot more tests through for specific areas of Napier, Hawke's Bay and our workload down there has increased significantly since then."

Mr Williams says this may be a reflection of how active methamphetamine testers are in the area as well as who is ordering the tests.

"Real estate agents is another big driver, if they understand the importance of methamphetamine tests then you're going to see a lot more tests in that area."

Social housing providers in Hawke's Bay are feeling the pinch.

"Housing has become more difficult to source," Mrs Lampp says.

"There are empty houses sitting out there and we've got people who are desperate for homes, but they're not sitting there because Housing New Zealand or anyone else wants to keep them empty, it's because they need this cleanup to happen."

As New Zealand's methamphetamine problem continues to worsen so do the housing issues, and Mrs Lampp says sourcing places for the vulnerable is becoming expensive because of that.

Made with funding from