Over 300 Kāinga Ora jobs are on the chopping block as the public housing agency moves into another round of re-structuring.
Management briefed staff on the changes this afternoon amid a tumultuous time for the organisation, which has seen significant changes this year.
Change processes proposed today could see a net reduction of 321 roles across the organisation’s urban planning and design; commercial; construction and innovation; and investment management office teams, according to Kāinga Ora.
Chief executive Matt Crockett said any changes would be confirmed in mid-November and that the agency wanted to achieve “the Government’s housing delivery expectations in the most efficient way possible in the coming years.”
“Kāinga Ora has scaled up over the last five years to deliver a successful and extensive build programme,” he said in a media release.
“We are now moving into a different phase where our focus is on creating a steadier state of social housing builds, alongside work to upgrade and replace thousands of homes in our portfolio.
“We need to make sure we have the right level of resourcing to match our delivery programme while maintaining focus on achieving our targets.”
As well as job cuts, the social housing agency saw much of its board leave earlier this year, while Crockett recently took over as chief executive.
Crockett said: “Today’s announcement starts a period of consultation where potentially impacted teams have the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposal.
A clean out of the Kainga Ora leadership team meant almost the entire board finished up yesterday, while the chief executive will be going later this year. (Source: 1News)
“These proposed changes will be unsettling for our people. We are committed to supporting them through the process as best we can, and to considering all feedback they provide.”
Union says ‘critical’ staff losing jobs
The Public Service Association’s (PSA) Duane Leo said the people who looked most likely to lose their jobs were “critical to the planning, design and construction of social houses”.
“We feel for all those dedicated workers who are impacted by this proposal – they have been doing great work for a great purpose which this government is failing to value in its ideological obsession with outsourcing a key state function.”
He said the staff being made redundant, under proposals, worked “across the country with a third in Auckland and represent around 10% of Kāinga Ora’s workforce.”
“Kāinga Ora has done an extraordinary job in its short life in boosting the construction of social houses with nearly 5000 built last year alone. Staff should take credit for their efforts in providing modern homes for those who need them most.”
The agency proposed cutting over a hundred staff earlier this year.
Agency faces shifting govt priorities
Over the past year, the Government has signalled a shift towards supporting community housing providers instead of scaling up Kāinga Ora amid the development of an agency “turnaround plan”.
Earlier this month,1News found more than 300 social housing projects across the country were being held up while Kāinga Ora assessed their economic viability.
In July, PM Christopher Luxon said: “We’re interested in results and outcomes. Then, the management and the board are the people that deliver those results and outcomes.”
He added: “We’ve changed the chairman. We’re refreshing the board. And importantly, we’re getting a turn-around plan in place by the end of the year.”
Labour has criticised the coalition for hitting pause on Kāinga Ora builds.
