No comfort for vulnerable tenants in Housing New Zealand changes

Announcements today around changes in the way Housing New Zealand operates will not provide any comfort for vulnerable tenants, says Labour Housing Spokesperson Moana Mackey.

"Cuts to frontline staff, closure or downgrading of neighbourhood unit offices and forcing tenancy mangers to work out of their cars will not improve the quality of service provided by Housing New Zealand - no matter how good the spin is," Moana Mackey said.

"Likewise, ignoring a tenants wider social needs and fobbing them off on to MSD is only going to result in more vulnerable tenants falling through the cracks.

"National's changes to Housing New Zealand in this term of Government have been extremely damaging, and already put extra pressure on community housing organizations and social service providers who have had to deal with the fallout.

"Maybe the Government should have consulted with those community-based providers to see how they feel about these changes given that they are the ones who will continue to have to pick up the pieces.

"Housing New Zealand's claim that they are 'just another landlord', with them now referring to tenants as "customers", is ridiculous.

"A Labour-led Government will reaffirm Housing New Zealand's status as a social housing provider. That's the reality of the work they do every day.
"The Government should get out of the way and let Housing New Zealand tenancy managers continue to work with their tenants on a common-sense case by case basis," Moana Mackey said.

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