It’s easy to sneer at “nimbys” not wanting to rub shoulders with those sort – whether it be just poor people, brown people or drug addicts –whenever some kind of “social housing” scheme is proposed in their nice suburb. But there’s more often than not a reason why people don’t want to live next to those people. Unfair stereotyping? Well, stereotyping, certainly – but not always unfair.
Those people don’t do themselves, or others, any favours when they so often behave exactly as like the stereotypes of those people.
A young Bay of Plenty family fears they’ll never be able to escape their neighbours from hell after prospective buyers were put off by their antisocial behaviour.
They are speaking out about the distress caused by their neighbours’ behaviour over the past couple of years and are calling for the state landlord to take action.
The family has twice been burgled and believe the culprit to be one of the Kainga Ora tenants next door. The family says the neighbours have also been responsible for aggression, loud parties and used tampons and undies being thrown onto their property.
I’ve lived in poor suburbs and I can attest that, for at least some people, the “stereotypes” are far too true. It doesn’t matter if they’re a minority: if 10 houses in the street are well-kept by decent people, the weed-grown, broken-window, car-bodies-on-the-front-lawn eyesore will still be the one that everyone notices.
I’ve also had friends who lived next door to social accommodation. It was a living hell.
Shortly after New Zealand’s first Covid-19 lockdown lifted in 2020, the man says his wife returned home to find their house had been broken into. Items including a UE Boom speaker, beauty products, bath towels and other electronics were taken.
His suspicions were raised about the neighbour’s involvement a week later, when he saw the same towels hanging on his neighbours’ washing line.
A footprint on the newly-painted connecting fence was a bit of a giveaway. Even more so was the fact that he was able to connect wirelessly to the speaker and hear the sound come over the fence.
A few of the stolen items were recovered but, sadly, some of the more sentimental things were nowhere to be seen. At the time of the second burglary, his wife was nine months’ pregnant.
“When we were going to the hospital, when she went into labour, we were really anxious as to when we got back – would we actually have any stuff in the house?”
But the burglaries were only the tip of the iceberg. Despite the burglar being prosecuted and the break-ins stopping, rubbish is still being thrown over their fence – including tampons and underwear.
He said the tenants also host loud parties until the early hours.
If you’ve never had to endure constant loud music from a neighbour, you have no idea just what sort of a nightmare it really is. When an old gent in my home town shot his neighbour after months of non-stop loud music, he had my every sympathy.
“I’ve had multiple chats [with Kainga Ora]. I was complaining quite a bit… I kept trying to push them on it but really got nowhere with it.”
The family feels at risk.
“They can be quite aggressive,” he said of the neighbours. “They were hanging a bunch of stuff over our fence. [My wife] went over there and asked, ‘do you guys mind not hanging stuff over our fence?’
“The boy yelled at her, starting swearing at her calling her a ‘f**king white n***r’… so he’s been really hostile. Every time we come home, we’re anxious.”
Fed up, the man put his house up for sale about two months ago – but fears he may not be able to sell the home.
“The first weekend there was an open home, a girl came and she was really keen on the house. She came back with her partner and then the neighbours were pumping their music with all their rubbish out the front… and they were like, ‘no way, we’re not buying here.’”
If they were expecting any sympathy from Kainga Ora, they better not hold their breath.
Until earlier this year, Kainga Ora hadn’t evicted any tenants in the previous three years.
That was until the state landlord in February announced it would finally crack down on tenants who terrorise their neighbours, after shocking reports of abuse and intimidation.
Fine words – but action is not exactly high on the agenda, clearly.
In a statement, Kainga Ora homes and communities regional director for Bay of Plenty Darren Toy said it was a situation “actively” being worked on.
Newshub
In other words, they’re just going to stonewall it with bureaucracy until the complainants give up and go away.
Still, the long-suffering family should at least be grateful they haven’t been vilified as “racists”. Yet.