There wouldn't be too many days in a week where Kainga Ora and housing issues across New Zealand are far away from the news. 

The news this morning is great! Complaints about disruptive behaviour are now handled in around 13 days - that's down from around 60 days a year ago. 

553 Section 55A notices were issues by Kainga Ora since July 2024, up from 41 issues during the same period in the previous year. 

Of that 553, first notices made up around 83%, second notices made up approximately 16%, and third notices - which can trigger the end of a tenancy - made up less than 2%. 

The latest data shows Kainga Ora is taking action against disruptive tenants, which in turn is leading to improved behaviour. 

There's nothing worse than living next to the banshees from hell, who have absolutely no consideration for their neighbours. They don't care that you can hear each and every domestic act of stupidity and verbal outburst, often accompanied by the Greatest Hits of some very average band on repeat. 

I reckon one of the biggest issues is that we build and shove people in these Kainga Ora blocks and call it "social housing". 

Kainga Ora and the plans they approve for ordinary people who - like you and me - just want somewhere to call home, end up living in housing that simply isn't what it used to be, back when we once called it state housing. Properties were much larger, with front and back lawns, with room for a family to live in and outdoors. 

These new builds are all about value for money - not quality of living. 

If you can hear each and every sound emanating from your immediate neighbours; above, below, as well as left and right, as is the case with an apartment block; then it stands to reason that you're more inclined to make complaints. 

Why are we hell bent on building these very nice to look at, modern ghettos - and then acting surprised when the wheels fall off in terms of social decorum?

If rowdy and completely unpleasant people are eventually evicted from these Kainga Ora properties, as they should be - where are they supposed to go? Are we happy to kick the can down the road, so that these trouble makers simply become someone else's problem? 

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