A Kāinga Ora tenant who experienced the upheaval of being kicked out of homes as a child, is now fearful about her own family's housing stability.
The woman, who did not want her name published, said she was "disgusted" with the Government's demands that New Zealand's housing agency take a tougher stance on persistent antisocial behaviour.
She told 1News that her mum with all her siblings were "kicked out of every single home" while growing up.
"It was very traumatising... they didn't realise the impact it would have on us children," she said.
The woman said there could have been a better approach.
"Instead of having proper services involved to help our family move forward from some of the antisocial issues we were going through, they would just kick us out."
She now lives in a Kāinga Ora property with a family of her own, and is worried about what the changes will mean for them.
She's questioning whether the history of anti-social behaviour in her family will impact how she was judged. She claims it has already happened before.
Questions have been asked about how many families and children could be left homeless as a result of the crackdown.
Labour's housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said, "we've wanted clarification from the Government whether if anyone's evicted they'll go back on the waiting list [and] they haven't answered that.
"There's only one outcome and that's increased homelessness."
Late on Tuesday the Housing Minister Chris Bishop said approximately 43% of households which had a serious concern made against them last year had children living in the homes.
In a statement to 1News, he said having rent arrears would not "in itself be cause for eviction".
"Of the 448 tenants who owed more than $10,000 in rent, 287 (64%) of them had children living in the home as at December 31, 2023," it said.
"Most Kāinga Ora tenants who are in arrears are sticking to a repayment plan. Rent arrears would typically be managed on a case-by-case basis and usually only be cause for eviction if a tenant refused to make repayments or even make a repayment plan".
Auckland Action Against Poverty said the changed being made are "callous".
However, the shift was welcomed by some people who had lived alongside disruptive and threatening social housing tenants.
The other side of the fence
Bernice Hodges from Christchurch has lived in a Kāinga Ora home for decades.
In recent years, she had issues with those living in the government-provided home next door.
"Anytime I walked out my door, I'd be abused," she said.
She had invested in security cameras and an alarm for the property. "I had no choice, because I really feared for my life."
She complained multiple times to the housing agency, but getting action was slow.
The neighbours had finally been moved on, and she was hopeful the new stronger measures would make the process easier for others in the future.
"[It] couldn't have come soon enough to be honest," she said.
What's at stake?
Meanwhile, the Kāinga Ora tenant who spoke to 1News anonymously fears the changes will "throw a lot of families out on the streets".
"It's going to build homelessness up, it's going to build more anti-social behaviour because we'll have families that are not in homes."
Kāinga Ora wasn't available for an interview on Tuesday but, in a statement, said it "welcomes the direction".
"We already have work under way to make changes to our approach to addressing disruptive behaviour and rent arrears. As part of this we will make ending the Sustaining Tenancies Framework a priority."
The housing agency told 1News it didn't expect anyone to "put up with awful situations".
— additional reporting by Katie Stevenson.
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