Kāinga Ora's stronger line on unruly tenants has caused the number of terminated agreements to soar. Photo / John Weekes
Kāinga Ora's stronger line on unruly tenants has caused the number of terminated agreements to soar. Photo / John Weekes
Kāinga Ora terminated 299 tenancies in the year to March, more than double the previous year.
Housing advocates link the increase to rising homelessness and question the fate of evicted tenants.
Housing Minister Chris Bishop says the terminations ensure consequences for disruptive tenants and protect neighbours.
Tenancy terminations in public housing are soaring under strict new Government rules, but housing advocates claim it’s driving more people into homelessness.
Figures released to Newstalk ZB under the Official Information Act showed Kāinga Ora terminated 299 tenancies in the year to March – more than double the 134 in the year before.
Much of the increase could be attributed to the Government directing the housing agency to take a stronger line on disruptive tenants and rent arrears in March last year. Terminations for disruptive behaviour have jumped from one to 50, while terminations for rent arrears have risen from seven to 76.
Over 300 of the 433 terminations in the 24 months were listed under the “other” category, which includes abandonment, non-occupation, possession, required relocation, damage to property and lack of access.
Kāinga Ora terminated 299 tenancies in the year to March – more than double the 134 in the year before. Photo /RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Housing advocates have correlated the increase to a rise in homelessness and questioned where the hundreds of tenants were going.
In March, Auckland Council’s Community Committee urged the Government to step in after it recorded a 53% increase in the number of people sleeping rough in the city since September.
Brooke Stanley, the spokesperson for youth homelessness collective Manaaki Rangatahi, said it is clearly caused by the Government’s new policies.
“It’s so wild to me that these guys can have this type of power to wield in our communities. Where does the Government think these people are going to go?”
Kāinga Ora wasn’t able to detail what happened to each specific tenant when it terminated their agreement, but said they “typically find alternative housing with another provider, move in with friends or whānau, or potentially move into transitional accommodation”.
Stanley said many evicted tenants don’t have those options.
“There is nothing for them. This is going to have an impact on harm that happens within our communities and it’s going to have an impact on the numbers that are going into prisons.”
The head of the Kick Back youth homelessness initiative, Aaron Hendry, said the Government’s stronger line is only exacerbating the problem.
“You’re going to take another group of people on the housing list who potentially also have all the same challenges back into housing, and what we’re doing is creating a loop where people are coming in and out of the system and we’re not actually solving the issue,” he said.
Hendry was also sceptical of more than 300 tenancy terminations which didn’t have a clear reason.
“There’s huge gaps there in terms of [Kāinga Ora’s] knowledge around why people are being terminated. We think that’s unacceptable. Maybe they have that knowledge but they need to be far more clear around why people are being asked to leave.”
Youth worker Aaron Hendry says the Government's approach to disruptive Kāinga Ora tenants exacerbates the many challenges the residents already face. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Litigation lawyer Adina Thorn said it was an improvement but believed the rate of terminations was a far cry from what was needed.
“I did some rough calculations. I thought the figure that needed to be evicted was 1,000 to 1,500,” she told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast.
“I’m not really talking about anti-social [behaviour], I’m talking about people doing really egregious violent stuff in housing that is threatening to their neighbours.”
Housing Minister Chris Bishop said the rising terminations show the Government is maintaining its promises and handing out real consequences to unruly tenants.
“In our view it’s not fair to the neighbours of those abusive tenants to have to live in fear, and it’s not fair to those on the social housing waitlist who would treat the home with respect,” he said.
Bishop said in most cases formal warnings, known as section 55a notices, were effective in getting disruptive tenants to improve their behaviour.
“For the tiny number of people who carry on with their abusive or damaging behaviour, there are real consequences which, in extreme cases, can involve their tenancy being ended.”
Jordan Dunn is a multimedia reporter based in Auckland with a focus on crime, social issues, policing and local issues. He joined Newstalk ZB in 2024 from Radio New Zealand, where he started as an intern out of the New Zealand Broadcasting School.
