Bernie Smith: Former Monte Cecilia Housing Trust CEO says community housing providers are ready to work with the Government

A former community housing leader says those providers are ready to collaborate with the Government.  

Kainga Ora chief executive Andrew McKenzie has resigned, saying the Government's changes aren't what he signed up for.  

It comes after a scathing review of the organisation.  

Former Monte Cecilia Housing Trust CEO Bernie Smith told Mike Hosking that the last Government stopped community housing providers buying houses from developers, but did it themselves.  

He says time and time again first home owners were locked out of the market because Kainga Ora came along with a big chequebook. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Change rolling at Kaying or a chief executive's going, board's
being refreshed. This all comes after that Bill English report
that was scathing of how the operation was run. Are
we onto something better here? The former CEO of Monte
Cecilia Housing Trust, Bernie Smith's back. Well, this is Bernie,
very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
How much do you reckon of what kying Or has
been up to in the last few years was top
down government's instructed stuff versus the individual people at the
place running their own program.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh, look at one hundred percent the servants of the government.
So the Housing Minister needs to think blaming one hundred
or eighty percent of what has occurred. In my opinion, Mike,
do you.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
See good change coming with the refreshing of the board,
a new chief executive and a new outlook.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
I think so. I think the government's onto a good thing.
And so a new CEO and a new board and
hopefully greater collaboration with the community housing.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
And was that fundamentally what Bill English found in other words,
by the previous government wanting to do it all themselves,
locking other people out, that was your problem. That's why
things never really got.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Sold yeah, I think that was part of the problem.
We know that the Labor Party was deeply seated within
the Labor Party that the state does at all, whereas
community housing divids lived and worked in their community and

(01:27):
knew their community, So why weren't they better funded to
build in their community.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
So you would argue it can be done differently, because
I know even now that the numbers the q for
state housing in this country is chronic. You think it
can be done done better and done more effectively.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
I think. So we've got to move away from a
model where housing managers have got too many properties to manage,
which isn't the case in community housing providers, where housing
managers actually get to know their tenants and switched on
to where there might be a problem because they know

(02:08):
the tenants, rather than the other way around, where they're
only getting visited when there's issues.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Was there a distortion in the market in other words,
kying or are just rolling with a great, big, large
checkbook and they mucked with the market. And does that
necessarily change if you take a different approach.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh, certainly. One of my frustrations was that the government
stopped community housing providers buying houses of developers. That's brand
new constructed homes, and yet they continue to do it themselves,
and so time and time again, first home owners were

(02:45):
locked out of the market because Kyangor came along with
a big checkbook.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
If they do this right, how long before you reckon?
You can come on this program and go there are
the seeds of change, and this is why this is
a better approach. How long does that take?

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well, I think you know, community has and providers are
ready and rearing to go and working in collaboration with
the government. I think we should be able to see
seeds of positivity within the next twelve months.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
Looking forward to it, Bernie, appreciate it very much. Bernie Smith,
who's the former Monty Cecilia Trust. For more from the
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