Police to probe Housing NZ bribe claims

Housing New Zealand has called in police to investigate allegations an Auckland staff member was offering state houses in exchange for bribes.

Over the last month the state housing agency discovered 31 cases, relating to one staff member, who no longer worked for it, where people were housed under circumstances which were a cause for concern, chief executive Lesley McTurk said today.

"Based on what we have found, I believe a criminal investigation needs to be considered and I have referred the matter to the police," Dr McTurk said.

There were also a smaller number of cases of concern, relating to the same staff member, where people have applied for state housing but had not yet been housed.

In the cases HNZ's systems and processes were not followed, and there was the likelihood that people obtained tenancies in state homes when they should not have done, or with unwarranted priority. That meant they displaced someone else in greater need, Dr McTurk said.

The situation was unacceptable.

"Our customers are people in vulnerable circumstances, and they have a right to expect a fair and level playing field. Housing New Zealand is determined to ensure its staff, systems and processes have integrity."

An independent review of HNZ's priority assessment and housing allocation systems, commissioned to help prevent the situation happening again, could help identify improvements, Dr McTurk said.

She was confident the Auckland case was an isolated incident.

"The review by KPMG found that the current housing allocation process is effective and there are high levels of staff adherence to it. The public can have confidence in the process."

However, the review has recommended a range of enhancements to drive greater consistency, and prevent the abuse of process at the heart of this investigation, she said.

HNZ would further investigate cases where it believed tenants had acted dishonestly in obtaining a state home, and taking appropriate action, potentially tenancy termination.

"Those 31 tenants are still in their houses and we will also be looking into each of those situations on a case-by-case basis, because it may be that many of them have a genuine need and should be in those houses," Dr McTurk told Radio New Zealand.

"The irregularities that we have found, some of them are on our part in terms of the way in which we processed, through this staff member's actions, their applications ... That is something we need to investigate further, and we are doing that in parallel with the police's investigation."

- NZPA