25 October 2011 – For immediate release

Housing New Zealand to improve services for customers

Housing New Zealand is reshaping its services to make them more responsive, efficient and consistent for customers.

Housing New Zealand has announced its final decisions on planned service delivery changes after consulting with and considering feedback from staff.

General Manager Tenancy Services, Kay Read says the changes will modernise and improve services for tenants.

“Our new service delivery model, combined with new technology, will enable Housing New Zealand to deliver the consistent and effective levels of service that our clients should be able to expect.”

Ms Read said that not only will Housing New Zealand improve the experience of customers, it will also be significantly more efficient and save money.

“The changes we are making will enable us to provide a greater return to the taxpayer on the $15 billion New Zealand has invested in state housing,” she said.

“We will free up tenancy managers to spend more time with their customers by using technology to take over manual tasks and by shifting some functions to specialist centres.

“We will also grow our Customer Services Centre so our customers can get hold of us easily and quickly, and routine enquiries can be managed quickly over the phone, with a consistent level of service.”

The new model will lead to a reduction in total staff numbers across Housing New Zealand. The organisation will have approximately 70 fewer roles from April 2012.

However, Housing New Zealand has anticipated this reduction and, to mitigate the impact on permanent staff, it has been employing temporary staff. There will be opportunities to apply for newly created roles or be redeployed within the new structure.

ENDS

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