Kāinga Ora crackdown: Greens decry ‘politics of punishment’, neighbours celebrate as Government moves on unruly tenants

The Green Party claims the Government is practising “politics of punishment” in its decision to come down harder on Kāinga Ora tenants exhibiting anti-social behaviour.

Meanwhile, an Auckland business association, a neighbour who was lunged at with a knife by a Kāinga Ora tenant, and a lawyer who helps residents affected by unruly dwellers are celebrating the move and say evictions “are a step in the right direction”.

The Act Party is also pleased at the fulfilment of one of its conditions in its coalition agreement with National, saying the “threat of eviction is an essential incentive to discourage malicious behaviour”.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Housing Minister Chris Bishop today announced the Government had ordered Kāinga Ora’s board to scrap the Sustaining Tenancies Framework, which aimed to sustain tenancies with a goal to avoid evictions and exits into homelessness, while also balancing obligations to neighbours and wider communities.

“I think everyone agrees that the state must always provide a safety net for New Zealanders who have fallen on hard times... and state houses will always play a very important part of that safety net,” Luxon said.

But he said it was a “sad fact” that a small number of Kāinga Ora tenants “abuse their right to state housing”.

“We’ve all heard the horror stories about Kāinga Ora tenants who are so threatening, so abusive, so violent that their neighbours live in fear every day,” Luxon said.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (left) and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who exhibit “persistent antisocial behaviour”. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Bishop claimed the framework had removed incentives for tenants to improve their behaviour. He cited the “most recent stat” that there had been 335 serious complaints per month, which included intimidation, harassment and threatening behaviour. In 2023, three tenancies had been ended due to disruptive behaviour, Bishop claimed.

“At a time when there are over 25,000 people on the social housing waitlist, Kāinga Ora should not be prioritising tenants who abuse their home or their neighbours above families who are anxiously waiting for a home,” he said.

Luxon couldn’t guarantee the move wouldn’t lead to more children becoming homeless.

Greens housing spokeswoman Tamatha Paul believed the Government was “seeking to define a category of undeserving poor people”.

“This politics of punishment from the coalition must come to an end before it does irreparable damage to communities who have historically been let down, time and time again, by successive Governments.”

Green Party MP Tamatha Paul opposes the Government's decision to crack down on anti-social Kāinga Ora tenants. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Paul said it would be cruel if the Government evicted more state housing tenants during a cost-of-living crisis and following changes to benefit increases which mean beneficiaries will receive less over time.

“Rents are through the roof and it is unreasonable to expect those living below the poverty line to miraculously endure the cost pressures and discrimination within the private rental market.”

Labour housing spokesman Kieran McAnulty said the Government’s intention to reduce the number of people on the public housing waitlist didn’t include increasing the housing supply.

“They are yet to promise to build additional state homes and would rather turf people out onto the streets, children included, to free some up,” McAnulty said.

“They want the issue of a social housing waitlist and problem tenants to go away, without having to solve the problem causing the waitlist: that we don’t have enough homes.”

A public housing advocacy group also slammed the Government’s plans to make it easier for Kāinga Ora to evict troublesome tenants, arguing it would lead to more homelessness.

“People are in public housing because they cannot afford private rentals. At a time where we should be building more public housing to make sure everyone in our communities have access to stable, and truly affordable homes, the National-led government are deciding to evict tenants,” Public Housing Futures’ Vanessa Cole said.

“The evidence is clear that having a stable roof over your head, as public housing provides, enables people to put down roots in a community, to have the stability to lead thriving lives and build social connections.”

Act housing spokesman Cameron Luxton welcomed the move to scrap the framework, which was in the party’s coalition agreement with National.

“Under successive Governments, an antisocial minority of Kāinga Ora tenants learned they could terrorise their neighbours without consequence,” Luxton said.

Luxton said some commentators would “squeal” about evicted tenants having nowhere to go. He didn’t provide any advice on where evicted tenants would go, instead focusing on those currently on the social housing waitlist who were “more deserving”.

He added Act had wanted to go further by ensuring tenants terminated for anti-social behaviour were moved to the bottom of housing waitlists and requiring Kāinga Ora to engage with police when illegal activity occurred.

The Prime Minister made similar comments when asked about children who could be evicted alongside their parents or caregivers. Luxon said he was thinking of children whose families were on the social housing waitlist.

Police and emergency services at at Mt Albert Kāinga Ora estate where a man died last month. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Earlier this year, Joeli Rankin’s death at a troubled Auckland Kāinga Ora housing estate sparked a homicide investigation.

He was found critically injured at the Mt Albert complex, alongside a 25-year-old man with serious injuries.

Rankin died at the scene, while the 25-year-old, who was taken to hospital with serious injuries, was initially charged with assault but the charge was later upgraded to murder.

Kāinga Ora had spent nearly $300,000 on private security for the complex, built in 2019. The agency earlier detailed the trouble caused by one of its residents at a complex where Rankin died, revealing it has been receiving complaints from neighbours for months.

Auckland business association says Govt change ‘excellent’

The Parnell Business Association, which complained about unruly Kāinga Ora tenants nearby who were allegedly committing robberies, intimidating others and doing wilful damage, has welcomed the Government’s announcement.

Association general manager Cheryl Adamson said the news was “excellent” and cited examples of anti-social behaviour from some tenants at the Cracroft and Bedford apartments in Parnell in January.

Kāinga Ora housing in Auckland's Parnell. Photo / Michael Craig

She said there had been more than 40 events in November and December, including robbery and unauthorised entry into a power control room, which resulted in power outages around the neighbourhood.

”I absolutely welcome the Government’s announcement. I welcome the fact that they’re going to prioritise families who are waiting for accommodation and welcome that they’re going to exercise more control over repeat offenders. I don’t think it’s fair to the residents of those facilities who are living nicely and who are paying their rent [for some] to just keep on causing mayhem.”

Adamson did have concerns about how exactly Kāinga Ora would monitor its tenants.

A resident on Auckland’s North Shore said his family were “over the moon” at the Government’s announcement after having constant problems with a neighbouring Kāinga Ora property when new tenants moved in last year.

William Macneil said an abusive Kāinga Ora tenant on electronically monitored bail lunged at him with a large “butcher’s knife” and threatened to kill Macneil’s family by ramming their house with a car in September last year.

William Macneil outside his home in Beach Haven, where a neighbour lunged at him with a butcher's knife. Photo / Dean Purcell

On Monday, Macneil told the Herald the Government’s change was “really good news” for his family, who were still having problems with their neighbours.

“This sort of [move] will hopefully get some traction to the idea of stopping this behaviour. We’ve had a gutsful.”

Macneil said just a month ago, his neighbours had a large party in which people were arguing and smashing windows in the Kāinga Ora house in the early hours of the morning.

“At least now they might be worried when they are screaming at 1am.”

A lawyer helping residents affected by unruly Kāinga Ora tenants also said evictions “are a step in the right direction”.

Adina Thorn told Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive some tenants were “abusing” the privilege of having a state house while others were on long waiting lists.

“We have to be sensible about this: we’ve got the population of Blenheim waiting for Housing New Zealand homes. Then you’ve got this small minority who are absolutely abusing these rights,” Thorn said.

“No one wants to kick anyone out of anything, but let’s put some framework around this: we are talking about a small number of people and we’re talking about really extreme behaviour, where people living in these communities are absolutely terrified.”

Thorn spoke about some of the antisocial behaviour people come to her about, calling the situations many face “fundamentally wrong”.

“I get emails from people talking about their neighbours having machetes, shouting at them 24/7. We’ve got stories in the news about some of these blocks having human security on them. When we’ve got to that level, there is something fundamentally wrong.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.