Last week I received this message from a former employee at Housing New Zealand Corporation.
Hi John,
I used to work in HNZC a few years ago in Community Renewal and Healthy housing as Community Development advisor.
I read your comments about HNZC management and board (I said they should be replaced by the government – John Minto) and could not agree with you more.
The culture is toxic and staff are distanced and remote from HNZC tenants and families needing housing.
The closing of local HNZC offices and the sacking of tenancy managers at HNZC who were replaced by call centre staff has been utterly disastrous – both in terms of finance as people have got into serious debt without tenancy support and the devaluing of state housing assets as damage is not picked up quickly enough.
It is a shambles, it really is.
The note confirms from inside the corporation the experiences of tenants on the outside.
The evidence is overwhelming – HNZC is run by the wrong people with the wrong values. Under this leadership there cannot be the transformative change so desperately needed.
Housing New Zealand CEO Andrew McKenzie illustrates the problem so well.
After repeatedly refusing to front up to media he finally appeared in public after a small army of public relations experts had carefully crafted a public statement for him to try and spin his way out of culpability for the social and humanitarian disaster he oversaw as the meth contamination fiasco.
Housing Minister Phil Twyford has no choice. He must act now to:
- Replace the board and senior management at HNZC to drive the transformative change needed and
- Transform HNZC into a government department with the public service values of efficiency, service and compassion – and public service salaries in place of bloated private sector executive salaries.
There is no alternative.
Right, John.
Unfortunately people in power usually take the easiest option and the one that keeps the perks flowing, which is to do as little as possible until everything around them collapses. And then they run with the money they deceitfully acquired, leaving someone else to clean up the mess.
If the self-serving liars are sufficiently well connected they then get appointed to another organisation that provides new looting opportunities.
Full agreement with you John, as we have seen theoprivatisation of former “public services” was a biig mistake going back to the days of the Czar for gods sake, when the working and poor Russians rebellled to make our lives better for all.
Now again we have been hoodwinked by the rich elitists taking us back to the czar like privateers where we are all suffering by financial hardship from these bloodsuckers we need to clean house again and sack the self interested ‘opportunists’ for bringing back our public serice peromel to offer a kinder, caring, government housing service that serves the people not their own pockets.
Tenancy managers being replaced by call centre staff is part of the dehumanising process, it’s not just a business decision.
Agree with you there Christine. And it’s also a bullying means of controlling vulnerable citizens, who have no voice.
Ah…if that’s the case it explains the know it all the last time I rang.
Housing Minister Phil Twyford has no choice. He must act now to:
1 ) Replace the board and senior management at HNZC to drive the transformative change needed and
2 ) Transform HNZC into a government department with the public service values of efficiency, service and compassion – and public service salaries in place of bloated private sector executive salaries.
There is no alternative.
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It would be in Mr Tywfords best interests to do so. Not only would social justice be seen to be done but also a far more cooperative culture within HNZC would be more politically secure as well.
The last thing Mr Tywford needs is an embedded remnant of belligerent and antagonistic hand picked National party supporters opposing his every move as Minister.
The purge must start.
unfortunate word – ‘purge’ – but yeah – sack the bastards..all of them..
flinty-eyed/uncaring persecutors of the weakest – to serve their tory masters/mistresses..and advance their own careers..
of course they have to be cleared out..
new faces could hardly do worse..
On the face of it the board and senior management at HNZC seem to have more in common with the type of people running the White House than competent management with New Zealand values. Perhaps they should go on a look-see visit and take Ambassador Brown home while they are about it. Tell them to leave children behind. There’s a few risks involved with that. But they do have mass shelters and, as I hear, they do tent cities quite well over there. Could be an interesting career move for them. They’d certainly learn a lot more about how to really screw people.
I fully support what John is demanding of the government.
I would love to part of a new housing corporation put real people in position not money grabbing soul destroying private company
HNZC used the meth debacle to get rid of us
the people to sell the homes. To build new unaffordable unqualifiable homes . We need to meet HNZC standard’s to qualify. Be broke be unemployed with bad credit and yes they want to see proof of your Bad Credit and any other Embarrassing information about yourself. So they can Embarrass you some more and say you on a LONG waiting list or worse YOU DO NOT QUALIFY.. Thanks for Nothing.. We still need a house…
HNZC used the meth debacle to get rid of us
the people to sell the homes. To build new unaffordable unqualifiable homes . We need to meet HNZC standard’s to qualify. Be broke be unemployed with bad credit and yes they want to see proof of your Bad Credit and any other Embarrassing information about yourself. So they can Embarrass you some more and say you on a LONG waiting list or worse YOU DO NOT QUALIFY.. Thanks for Nothing.. We still need a house…
housing corp has acquired the belief that they are in the game to make money for the national party coffers, play bigtime businessmen and not, I repeat not in the business of providing housing for people. Wouldbe capitalists waiting for the mainchance and a real job.
Every media story points to the validity of John’s call to replace the HNZ board. HNZ knew that meth testing for microscopic levels was flaws and was repudiated by the Ministry if Health. Yet they persisted. Bill English admitted on RNZ that meth testing was inappropriate, yet they persisted.
It’s time for some of that right wing mantra of Personal Responsibility to be sheeted home to Housing NZ senior management/Board members.
They must resign.
… ” It’s time for some of that right wing mantra of Personal Responsibility to be sheeted home to Housing NZ senior management/Board members.
They must resign ” …
Eloquently put.
Purge and topple the embedded far right wing element among them and start afresh. The NZ public have no need of them , the new govt have no need of them, and certainly those in need of housing have no need of them…
So why hang on to them?
Let them go.
But not before there is an inquiry into their behaviors.
Oh no ,… ideologues causing such economic and emotional destruction should not get let off the hook that lightly ,…the piper still needs to be paid.
And so far?
These people are debtors to the NZ electorate.
Drain the Swamp ?
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