Housing NZ meth testing exposed 'as the scam it was', but still impacting tenants

The 1 NEWS political team looked back this week at the meth-testing scandal that rocked Housing New Zealand this year - seeing hundreds of people evicted and resulting in the Government paying out families who were impacted. 

Reporter Benedict Collins said after looking into the story for the last few years, it "immediately was pretty obvious it was unjust and they were twisting and bending science in order to evict tenants". 

Positive methamphetamine tests, that were later debunked, resulted in Housing New Zealand removing hundreds of families from its properties.

Payments are being made on a case-by-case basis to cover expenses such as moving costs and furniture replacement.

"Finally, it all came to an end and it was exposed as the scam it was," Collins said. 

"It was really good to see [the testing] stop and also for the Government to come in and compensate," he said. "These tenants were not only vulnerable in the first place, but they were kicked out of the house and they destroy all your possessions."

Political editor Jessica Mutch Mckay said there were still issues with people not being compensated or the money not coming through. 

"To me this story also reflects what has been a horrific year in terms of bad behaviour in the public sector.

"The public sector is on Santa's naughty list," Maiki Sherman said. "Are we simply seeing more transparency perhaps?"