Adina Thorn: Litigation Lawyer on the increase in Kāinga Ora tenancy terminations, formal warnings

There's hope there can be a turnaround in unruly Kāinga Ora tenants. 

A Government crackdown has resulted in 63 tenancy terminations in the past 10 months - up from 11 in the year before. 

Formal warnings have gone up 600%. 

Litigation Lawyer Adina Thorn told Mike Hosking the figures are encouraging. 

She says it looks like under this government, there’s been a big step up and a moderate to good response to the behaviour that has been going on in some KO homes across New Zealand. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Isn't it amazing back home? What happens when you lay
down a few expectations coming. Aura As in State Housing
have been handing out warnings around behavior, a six hundred
percent increase in formal warnings six hundred We've got sixty
three evictions for violent or threatening behavior in the past
ten months. Litigation lawyer Adena Thorne's backward this Adena morning
to you.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning mate.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
So I note here eighty percent of the warnings these
are se fifty five. A's eighty percent, then it drops
to eighteen percent for a second notice, and by the
time you get to a third notice, which means A're
going to boot you out, it's two percent. So you
warn people, they get it. Presumably that's what it looks like, Mike.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
These figures are encouraging. It looks like under this government
there's been a big step up and there seems to
be a moderate to good response by this government through
what's going on has been going on for some time,
and there's horrific fury. But some housing New Zealand homes
across New Zealand, I would say we've got to be

(00:57):
a little bit careful with these numbers because you can
pop big numbers, big percentages out there, like six hundred percent,
and you go wow, and I mean, let let's be fair.
Some are big improvement that you do start with very
small numbers. So when you pat back, they started with
only about one per working day, so you know, big improvement,

(01:17):
but they started with very small numbers.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
You make a very good point. What do we know
about that? Is that one percent or one per day?
Is that in response to the actual problems or if
you actually went looking, there's fifty per day you could
be doing well.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
I think there's more like fifty per day. So based
on my own box, there's far fewer absolutely stressed out,
petrified people contacting me, which is really really encouraging and
a good thing. But there's still are some. I mean
my assessment was there needs to be about one thousand
to fifteen hundred evictions across New Zealand to actually sort

(01:54):
this out. But it does take time and they are
going in the right direction. I mean, I got an
email just two weeks ago from someone in the North
Island and that I'm going to read you or just
a tiny book took aout a neighbor shouting aggressively and banging,
throwing things in the home, terminating neighbors by threatening the
whole street while standing in the front door. Data many

(02:15):
times Playing or a staff tell us it isn't a
matter for them, it's for the police. Then we go
to the police. They say no, it isn't for the police.
It's not an arrestable offense. And it's backward KAO. So
you've got a lot of it, and you've got a
lot of concern with people saying we don't really understand
how the warnings or three strikes or what if you
call it really works because we keep asking ko we

(02:39):
live next door across the road, they won't tell us anything,
and it's all very confusing. I think there needs to
be more and I actually think that Sir Bill English
did a report in March last year which seems to
have started this all off, and it's very easy to
read report and it's very clear in his view that
really in one line, playing or a house in New
Zealand was a disasters though, so I think you should

(03:01):
pack this up again, look at this issue. And also
at the same time, do I sort of get crying
Ora to do a house by house or home by
home review and they should look at hosts living in
each house. If she's got one person and three bedrooms,
maybe they need to look at that and look at
what's actually going on, and once and for all, tide
of the sector up.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
I wonder if it's a bit of top down regionality.
In other words, in some parts of the country people
have taken the message seriously and others they haven't. So
you get some variation in the discipline if you like.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, it's hard to know, but I mean, from what
I see, these complaints are nationals and they're all across
the country. But you know, I think it needs to
come from the top. I mean, is the board of
Carying AURA or the CEO of Crying AURA fronting on
this issue?

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Good point, very good point. All right, well we'll go
with that because that is Simon Muter, who is the
chair of Coying AURA. I think I'm correct in saying
that Adina Thorne, who's litigation lawyer. So if she's correct,
and you need one thousand and fifteen hundred victions at
sixty three, but it worked to be For more from
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