Kāinga Ora job cuts seen as unfair on Māori and Pacific communities

The Public Service Authority (PSA) says Māori and Pacific communities will be unfairly impacted by job cuts at Kāinga Ora.

Kāinga Ora confirmed the disestablishment of 620 jobs last month as part of its reset, with the changes “predominantly” impacting its back office and corporate functions.

The PSA Kaihautū Māori, Janice Panoho, says these changes will inequitably impact Māori and Pacific people who are overrepresented in the housing crisis.

“[Kāinga Ora] deals with the most vulnerable members of our society... These changes are going to affect the workers but also the communities that they serve,” Panoho says.

2023 Census data shows that of the 112,496 people estimated to be severely housing deprived at the time of data collection, 34,557 were Māori and 28,779 were of Pacific ethnicity.

“It's got an obligation under the treaty to ensure that Māori are housed and protected [but] these decisions that it’s making are going to have a huge negative impact on Māori, and also Pacific people, who have the same problems of housing inequality.”

The PSA says that KO’s “capacity to serve is being hollowed out”, including their capacity to be culturally competent, and that job cuts risk an increase in homeless people.

“I think it’s going to create some significant problems for our country,” Panoho says.

“You’ll see more families again, possibly living rough.”

Kāinga Ora announced a reset last November in response to a letter from the government expressing concern “about the financial performance and governance of Kāinga Ora”.

An initial proposal for 673 job cuts was announced in April as part of the reset, which was reduced to 620 jobs following a period of consultation with staff.

In a media release, Kāinga Ora CEO Matt Crockett says the job cuts are “about setting Kāinga Ora up for success”.

“We will be able to deliver what the government expects of us, and the workforce changes will not negatively impact the support and services we provide to tenants,” says Crockett.

Panoho questions how Crockett knows that services will not be affected.

“A third of staff are going to be removed out of housing, out of Kāinga Ora. You know that that's going to have some impact on the delivery of services.

“[Staff] are saying to me ‘We’re going to have to do twice as much to keep things running’.”

More than 500 roles were disestablished at Kāinga Ora last year.

As of 1 July, the agency will have more than 30 per cent less staff than it did on 31 December 2023.