May 20, 2023 3:00pm by David Farrar

Worst landlord in NZ Part 73

The Herald reports:

A Hamilton solo mother-of-four says she dreads coming home every day after years living next to Kāinga Ora “neighbours from hell”.

Katelyn Park, who lives with her children aged 14, 10, 9 and 6, says that she has repeatedly complained to Kāinga Ora but the agency only responded when she shared a TikTok video about her struggles and it went viral.

I don’t understand how the entire Board and CEO have not been sacked after so many stories about their tenants terrorising other tenants. If Kāinga Ora was a private landlord, it would be shunned by society.

Park told the Herald she had been living a nightmare for the past five years, constantly under the shadow of her neighbours’ anti-social behaviour, saying she had repeatedly complained about them by phone and eventually email earlier this year.

It started when Labour changed the policy so it was no longer possible to evict tenants for, well anything.

The Herald has heard recordings of the calls Park made to the agency, pleading for help.

How heartless can they be?

Park said that she was “being made to feel like they have more rights to live there than I have to live in my home, where I have been raising my children for 10 years” after Kāinga Ora failed to act.

That’s because under Labour they do. They can’t be evicted for terrorising you. At best they will move you to a new location, and leave them there to terrorise the next set of neighbours.

The callouts earlier this are a fraction of the over 90 callouts police have made to the house during the neighbours’ tenancy. We know that number because Park asked for it, going through the Official Information Act process to show just how regularly police visited the property.

90 callouts!!! And Kainga Ora did nothing. The Minister should be sacking people.

She also said that children who live on the neighbouring property have entered her home, damaging her property and deliberately smashing one of her children’s tablets.

She said she “works her ass off” to provide for her family and was not in a position to replace the damaged items.

The poor woman. I really feel for her.