Northlander among first round of Housing NZ meth compensation payouts

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.

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.

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."

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.