State Housing Action Network

31 October 2016

Media release:

Drug contamination evictions an abuse of state tenants

State Housing Minister Bill English must step in to bring Housing New Zealand under control after the revelation that 122 state house tenants have been evicted based on trace amounts of meth amphetamine found in state houses.

The amounts of the drug found are the equivalent of someone inhaling second hand pot smoke at a party with the Ministry of Health repeatedly confirming that these amounts pose no health risk to tenants.

Housing New Zealand is using public concern about P use as a cover to evict families from their homes.

We have been informed of families harassed, evicted and then charged many thousands of dollars for clean-up after traces of meth amphetamine have been found in their state homes.

It does not matter to Housing New Zealand if the contamination happened by previous or past tenants – families are simply turned out on the streets with massive clean-up bills.

This HNZ strategy will reduce the number of people on the state house waiting list but is increasing homelessness in the middle of a housing crisis.

HNZ has misleadingly claimed that only five families have been evicted based on drug contamination but they issued a further 117 90-day eviction notices.

SHAN is calling on State Housing Minister Bill English to issue a directive to HNZ that it apply Ministry of Health guidelines on meth contamination immediately and cease using alleged drug misuse as a reason to evict tenants.

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