Bernie Smith: Former Monte Cecilia Housing Trust CEO on Kāinga Ora's 63 tenancy terminations in the past 10 months

The Government's celebrating Kāinga Ora seeing a 600 percent rise in warnings under a new tenant crackdown. 

Sixty-three Kāinga Ora tenancies have been terminated in the past 10 months. 

Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says it's a result of tenants exhibiting abusive, threatening, or persistently disruptive behaviour. 

Former Monte Cecilia Housing Trust CEO Bernie Smith joins the show to discuss the crackdown. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
Right now, the government's patting itself on the back for
successfully cracking down on abusive kaying or A tenants. It's
seen sixty three tendancies terminated in the past ten months.
That's up from eleven the year before. Action over complaints
is happening five times faster. The number of former warnings
being issued has gone up six hundred percent. So I'm

(00:36):
joined now by the former CEO of the Monte Cecilia
Housing Trust, Bernie Smith Community Bernie.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Good Morning, Angry so.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Caig Aura has one hundred and ninety thousand clients and
in the past ten months there have only been sixty
three terminations. The year before eleven and the year before
that just two. So is this an issue that has
been over egged? Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:00):
I don't think so. It's gone from bad duarius in
the sense of a previous government believing that no one
should be exited from their home behavior, no matter the damage,
and this government is endeavoring to put it right. So
that's why the stats are looking so high.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Do we assume that state housing tends need to be
complained about.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
No, we don't, And sadly, we've got a little bit
of a nimbiism occurring in some communities where people feel
that they should be complained about when they're jolly good tenants.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
So the numbers now are bigger than they've ever been,
and it is a six hundred percent increase in formal warnings.
Does that indicate that they're being given out for lesser
issues than we did in the past.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
I don't think so. I think, sadly, Andrew, for some
tenants they don't understand or know what good behavior is
because of how they've been raised in their families, and
so the wrap around service actually assists tenants to know
what good behavior is and hopefully this will begin to

(02:17):
create generational.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Change all right now, The fear that is often promoted
by people who don't like it when the government comes
down tough on canga or a tenants is that they
don't know where they're going to go. They fear that
these tenants being thrown out will end out homeless, maybe
sleeping rough. Is there a link between eviction from canger
or a house and homelessness?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
Oh, this certainly is a link. I think there's some tenants,
no matter how much support you put in, no matter
how long the journey is that you walk with them
to try and support them to correct things. They just
have a chip on their shoulder and there's no choice

(03:00):
but to act. The sad part for me is that
children are involved and it's often the children's folded all.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, Bertie, thank you so much for getting up for
us this morning, on this holiday. And this is Bertie Smith,
the former CEO of the Monty Cecilia Housing Trust.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
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