Hamilton Kāinga Ora ‘neighbours from hell’: Mum trapped in her own home by abuse, threats

The Hamilton mum who is living next to Kāinga Ora “neighbours from hell” says she and her children feel like prisoners in their own home as the antisocial behaviour from over the fence continues unabated - but the Government agency claims it is taking action.

Katelyn Park, who shared her story with the Herald earlier this month, said that now her children have been directly targeted by her neighbours and subjected to a stream of expletives.

She told the Herald a female tenant recently yelled at her children as they played outside: “This is my f***ing backyard!”

Park claimed the tenant also added a vile insult: “Your mum’s a c***!”.

Park also revealed that her neighbours had previously made direct threats to kill her dog and burn down her home.

”Watch out for those raindrops of petrol coming over your fence when I burn your f***ing house down,” Park claims she was told.

A rubbish fire over the fence. The regular fires blow smoke into neighbouring properties. Photo / Katelyn Park

Park, who lives with her children aged 14, 10, 9 and 6, told the Herald earlier this month that she has repeatedly complained to Kāinga Ora but the agency only responded when she shared a TikTok video about her struggles and it went viral.

She said she had been living a nightmare for the past five years, constantly under the shadow of her neighbours’ anti-social behaviour which includes verbal abuse, fires and intrusion on her property.

She also revealed there had been over 90 callouts made by police have made to the house during the neighbours’ tenancy, a number Park obtained through the Official Information Act process.

Park has been crippled by chronic migraines that her doctor has attributed directly to the stress she is experiencing and finds herself trapped inside the home behind drawn curtains, afraid to let her pets and children out for fear of what her neighbours might do.

She says Kāinga Ora has still not taken meaningful action but she has been invited to a meeting with their staff later this week, where she will ask for their help.

“My feeling is that if they will not move them on then they need to help me move on,” she told the Herald.

“I won’t get market value for the house so they should pay the shortfall of that and compensate me. That’s the only logical solution that I can come up with.”

Katelyn Park says the behaviour is damaging to her children. Photo / Katelyn Park

What can be done?

Mark Rawson, Kāinga Ora’s regional director for Waikato, told the Herald that the agency was aware that some of the individuals at the property were “not Kāinga Ora customers”.

He said they were using the tools available to them under the Residential Tenancies Act to try and resolve Park’s issues with her neighbours, adding that the troublesome tenants had been “reminded” of their responsibilities.

“We want our customers to be good neighbours - and the vast majority are,” Dawson said.

He went on to say that when “serious and ongoing disruptive behaviour situations” occur, Kāinga Ora can arrange for the tenants to shift to another Kāinga Ora property.

“Most customers take moving to a new home as an opportunity to change and make a fresh start without further issues,” he said.

“If a customer is not willing to work with us to change their behaviour, we can and do use Section 53B of the Residential Tenancies Act, which allows us to end a tenancy and transfer the customer to another home. Another tool available is issuing a notice under Section 55a of the RTA.

“In the very small number of situations where issues with behaviour do not resolve, we will issue a third notice and apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to end the tenancy.”

One of Katelyn Park's neighbours argues with her mother over the fence of their Hamilton home. Photo / Katelyn Park

Pressure on the system

Dawson told the Herald that the system was at capacity in Hamilton, revealing that over 99 per cent of Kāinga Ora homes are occupied or in use.

The city also faces high demand for state housing, with 1677 people seeking accommodation through the Ministry of Social Development’s Housing Register.

But the pressures faced by Kāinga Ora and its tenants don’t change Katelyn Park’s need for a swift resolution.

“If they think I am going to drop this and leave it, they are wrong. I’m not interested in their excuses, I need a solution,” she told the Herald.

“I won’t be manipulated into accepting a sob story. Everyone has a sob story and has had trauma in their life, I’m not excluded from that equation.

“However, I get up every day and go to work to make a better life for myself and my kids.”