Policy: Non-Public Housing Tenancy
Management Pilot and Private Tenancies
acquired by Kāinga Ora (POL-384)
Issue Date
September 2023
Approved by
Kāinga Ora Board Public
Housing Committee
Owner
GM National Services
Author
Operational Policy
Purpose
1. This policy sets out the approach Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities (Kāinga Ora)
takes to managing non-public housing tenancies. A non-public housing (NPH) tenancy is
a tenancy held by a NPH customer.
2. Our approach when renting to NPH customers is to emulate the approach of a private
landlord, including providing an empathetic and holistic approach to how we engage
with NPH customers. We are not required to follow – and have chosen not to follow –
the operating principle of supporting tenants to sustain tenancies and some others (set
out in more detail below) in respect of these customers.
3. Kāinga Ora is entering into a new phase by renting to NPH customers at Te Mātāwai.
Most of our operational policies and guidelines focus on public housing customers and
are based on all our operating principles, so these may not be fit for purpose for NPH
customers. The tenancy management approach for NPH customers aims to be easy to
adopt by our people and systems.
4. The policy provides:
• definitions of a NPH applicant and customer
• principles that guide decision-making of Kāinga Ora when managing non-public
housing tenancies
• links to processes and guidance documents to the NPH approach.
Background
5. The Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) provides the legal framework for the rights and
responsibilities of Kāinga Ora as a landlord. The NPH policy ensures Kāinga Ora meets its
obligations under the RTA in respect of non-public housing tenancies.
6. The vision of Kāinga Ora for NPH tenancies is to build an inclusive community where
people choose to live, connect and thrive. Kāinga Ora is committed to building genuine
and meaningful relationships with our NPH customers to understand their housing
needs, including how they want to engage with us. Our aspiration is to add benefit to
the rental market by providing a better experience for some people in the private rental
space than they experience in the current rental market.
Scope
7. This policy and the related procedures apply to Kāinga Ora employees (including casual
and fixed term employees), contractors, consultants, and secondees.
8. Non-public housing customers are not eligible for Accommodation Supplement (AS), and
the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Ministry of Social
Development (MSD) will advise Ministers of the implications of this situation in 2024 and
advise on possible amendments to the Social Security Act 2018. As an interim, we will be
reducing rent for some NPH customers at Te Mātāwai. The agreed process for this
interim approach is in the process and guidance links below.
9. This policy applies to Waitapu (Building A) of Te Mātāwai (Greys Ave) complex and NPH
tenancies that arise incidentally from Kāinga Ora urban development and housing
activities that are consistent with its urban development and housing functions, namely
the acquisition of:
i.
land and dwellings with sitting tenants with the intention to redevelop in the future
ii.
housing portfolios, such as from councils, but where some tenants were not
assessed as eligible for public housing but that the housing would eventually be
transitioned to public housing once the existing tenancy ends.
Definitions
A non-public housing applicant is:
• a person who has applied for a non-public Kāinga Ora tenancy and has not been
assessed by MSD or had been assessed by MSD as being ineligible for public housing
and is not on the MSD public housing register.
A non-public housing customer is:
• a person, who at the time their tenancy agreement with Kāinga Ora commenced, had
not been assessed by MSD as being eligible or had been assessed by MSD as being
ineligible for public housing and was not on the MSD public housing register, and who
now has a tenancy agreement for a non-public housing Kāinga Ora property.
Policy for non-public tenancy management
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10. This policy does not apply to people leasing accommodation from the Ministry of
Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) under the Temporary Accommodation
Service.
11. At any given time, we do have public housing customers who may be paying a market
rent under the Public and Community Housing Management Act 1992. This policy does
not apply to them.
Operating principles
12. For NPH tenancies, we are not required to follow the operating principles in the Kāinga
Ora Act that apply for public housing tenancies. We have chosen
not to follow these
operating principles for our NPH tenancies:
(b) supporting tenants—
(i) to be well connected to their communities; and
(ii) to lead lives with dignity and the greatest degree of independence possible; and
(iii) to sustain tenancies:
(c) working with community providers to support tenants and ensure those most in
need are supported and housed
13. However, we still aim to manage NPH tenancies consistently with these operating
principles:
(a) providing good quality, warm, dry, and healthy rental housing
(d) being a fair and reasonable landlord, treating tenants and their neighbours with
respect, integrity, and honesty. 1
Policy
Introduction
14. Kāinga Ora is a responsible and reasonable landlord. We are obliged to ensure our
customers and their neighbours experience quiet enjoyment of their homes. We expect
our customers to respect the values and wellbeing of others and to act reasonably with
consideration for others in their building community.
15. Under key legislation most of our operational policies and guidelines focus on public
housing customers, so the tenancy-management approach for NPH customers must be
easy to adopt by our people and systems. Most of the public housing policies and
guidelines will not apply to NPH tenancies; however, there will be some tailored
guidance specifically for NPH tenancies (see ‘Guiding principle’ below).
16. For NPH customers we follow and use the tools in the RTA and our focus is to provide an
empathetic and holistic tenancy service where we build trust, good relationships with
our NPH customers – using the same skills and good intentions in our tenancy approach
1 Kāinga Ora Homes and Communities Act 2019 s14(a)(d).
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with our public housing customers. However, we are dealing with people who could
generally obtain housing in the private rental market, so we do not have the same need
to help them to sustain their tenancy with us. NPH tenants who breach their obligations
and do not or cannot remedy it may have their tenancies terminated.
Guiding principles
17. The behaviour and decision-making of Kāinga Ora on NPH tenancies will be guided by
the following principles.
•
Trust – mutual trust and reciprocity is at the heart of our relationship with
customers.
•
Responsibility – we meet our obligations as a landlord under the RTA and trust our
customers will do so also.
•
Dignity – every customer is treated with respect, empathy and understanding, no
matter their background. We seek to understand who they are and what their
housing needs and aspirations are.
•
Cultural responsiveness – we are flexible and adapt our services to accommodate
housing needs of our customers and engage with customers in a way that works for
them.
•
Responsiveness – we are effective and timely when dealing with the concerns of our
customers.
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Appendix 1: Guidance to the NPH approach at Te Mātāwai
18. Non-public housing (NPH) guideline (CNP-GDL-001) provides guidelines specifically for
NPH tenancies at Te Mātāwai.
Selection process
19. The selection process for NPH people who apply for Te Mātāwai is the following.
20. A Leasing Agent will complete the applicants due-diligence checks for Kāinga Ora. They
will provide Kāinga Ora with individual applicant application packs. The guidance
document outlines the approaches of a Viewing stage and Application stage.
21. When an applicant goes for a viewing of a property, they are required to provide the
Leasing Agent their name and contact information only. At the application stage, the
applicant can fill in the application form for a property before viewing the property, but
they are not required to do this at this stage. If the applicant decides to apply for a
property, they need to fill in the application form and submit the application form to the
Leasing Agent.
22. Once the Leasing Agent has a full set of information for an applicant, the agent provides
that information to the Tenant Evaluation Panel of Kāinga Ora. The application to offer
process works on a first-in, first-served basis. This means we are considering each
completed application in order.
23. The role of the Kāinga Ora Tenant Evaluation Panel is to make a decision on whether we
proceed with an applicant using all the information supplied to them from the Leasing
Agent when the checks are completed. By having a panel of four people, we remove any
bias in the selection process and make it a collective decision on whether the application
progresses to the next stage of being offered a property. The criteria and ratings the
Kāinga Ora Tenant Evaluation Panel will need to consider when assessing applications is
in Non-public housing guideline (CNP-GDL-001).
24. Membership of the Kāinga Ora Tenant Evaluation Panel includes the Manager of the
Complex, Senior/Housing Support Manager, Team Leader Housing Support and
Placement Coordinator and/or Wellbeing Advisor.
NPH rent reduction
25. NPH customers are not eligible for Accommodation Supplement (AS). As an interim for
this pilot, we will be reducing rent for some NPH customers at Te Mātāwai, who otherwise
would be eligible for AS. We are working with officials from the Ministry for Social
Development (MSD) on how to ensure this NPH rent-reduction process is accessible for
NPH applicants and/or customers.
Bond Management
26. Kāinga Ora may request up to four weeks’ bond2, and the guidance states we will be
requesting two weeks’ bond.
2 RTA s18
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Tenancy inspections
27. Kāinga Ora will only visit a property for the purposes set out in the
Residential Tenancies
Act 1986. Kāinga Ora will undertake tenancy and property inspections for non-public
housing tenancies at Waitapu in Te Mātāwai every six months.
Tenancy Termination
28. We are dealing with people who could generally obtain housing in the private rental
market, so they do not have the same need to help them to sustain their tenancy with
us. NPH tenants who breach their obligations and do not or cannot remedy it may have
their tenancies terminated.
29. When working to resolve issues with all our customers, we ensure all parties have the
opportunity to be heard, that they have access to information concerning their tenancy
and that decision-makers are free from bias.
30. There are three ways in which a tenancy can be terminated:
i. By the customer, or
ii. By Kāinga Ora, or
iii. By Tenancy Tribunal Order
By the customer
31. Following family violence – a customer may withdraw from the tenancy by giving at least
two days’ notice as stated in Section 56B of the RTA.
32. A customer may terminate their tenancy in any case by giving at least 28 days’ notice to
Kāinga Ora.3
33. For more information, se
e Policy for Ending Tenancy - Customer-initiated (POL-349).
34. A tenancy may also terminate following the death of the sole tenant4.
By Kāinga Ora
35. Kāinga Ora may terminate a non-public housing tenancy in accordance with the RTA.
Kāinga Ora gives 90 days’ notice under certain circumstances. Sometimes notice periods
are shorter for example, under s55AA for physical assault incidents.
By Tenancy Tribunal Order
36. In some cases, Kāinga Ora may seek a termination order from the Tenancy Tribunal, if
for instance, the rent is at least 21 days in arrears, or the tenant has caused substantial
damage to the premises or has assaulted other persons (s55). An application may also
be made following three separate occasions of anti-social behaviour (s55A).
37. Guidelines on the process for managing termination for can be found in Manage tenant
arrears in non-public housing (CNP-PRO-004) and Mange anti-social behaviour in non-
public housing (CNP-PRO-006).
3 RTA Section 51(2B)
4 RTA s50A
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Definition of terms
The following definitions apply when interpreting this policy:
Term
Definition
Non-public housing applicant
A person who has applied for a non-public Kāinga Ora
tenancy and has not been assessed by Ministry of Social
Development (MSD) or had been assessed by MSD as
being ineligible for public housing and is not on the MSD
public housing register.
Non-public housing customer
A person, who at the time their tenancy agreement
commenced, had not been assessed by MSD as being
eligible or had been assessed by MSD as being ineligible
for public housing – and was not on the MSD public
housing register – and who now has a tenancy agreement
for a non-public housing Kāinga Ora property.
Related policies, procedures, legislation and documents
38. Relevant legislation, regulations and standards:
a.
Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
b.
Kāinga Ora–Homes and Communities Act 2019
c.
New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1994
d.
Privacy Act 2020
e.
Residential Tenancies Act 1986
Review
We will review this policy on an as required basis.
Document control
Details of previous versions of policies and procedures will be stored in the document
management system (Objective) of Kāinga Ora.
Date
Reviewed/Modified by
Comments/Descriptions of changes
30/08/2023 Kāinga Ora Board
Approve Policy
3/08/2023
Customer and
Endorse Policy
Communities Pae Tātaki
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