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Francesca Rudkin: Kainga Ora's crack down on rental debt is fair · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Coying Aura is taking a step in the right direction.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: They have announced a tough approach to rental debt, but
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  Speaker 1: they're doing it in a fair way, which hopefully gives
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  Speaker 1: people who intend to pay their rent but have hit
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: a hurdle a chance to get back on track. The
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  Speaker 1: debt was kind of crazy. Between twenty seventeen and twenty
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: twenty three, the total debt owed to Coying Aura by
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: its tenants increased from one million to twenty one million.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Not obviously, this period included the COVID days and cost
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of living crisis, and it would have been a little
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  Speaker 1: heartless for the government to kick people out of homes
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  Speaker 1: during a lockdown or due to a job loss caused
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: by an unprecedented event like a pandemic. But twenty one million,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: it is a big number. Coung Aora has worked hard
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  Speaker 1: to reduce that debt is now down from twenty one
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  Speaker 1: point six million in January twenty twenty four to sixteen
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  Speaker 1: point one million this January. It is a good effort,
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  Speaker 1: but clearly things have got out of control and we're
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: never going to get on top of the numbers. So
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the Board of coyng AURA has decided to help some
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  Speaker 1: tenants with significant rent debt get on top of their
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  Speaker 1: debt faster. They're going to reduce the amount they owe
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  Speaker 1: down to twelve weeks worth of rent and forgive the
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  Speaker 1: rest if the tenant has been consistently paying rent and
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  Speaker 1: making reasonable payments to reduce what they owe. So this
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  Speaker 1: is going to wipe eight million off the debt number,
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  Speaker 1: which is a quick way to make the numbers look
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  Speaker 1: more appealing, isn't it. But were we ever going to
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  Speaker 1: recoup the money from the twenty tenants owing more than
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  Speaker 1: twelve weeks? No? So why not give people an incentive
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  Speaker 1: to pay This is a pragmatic decision, but it raises
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  Speaker 1: the question what's stopping tenants just clocking up the debt
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  Speaker 1: if they know that it will be reduced back to
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  Speaker 1: twelve weeks. Well, this is a one time offer because
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  Speaker 1: from now on tenants won't get to the point of
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: owing more than twelve weeks rent. Coying o Or estates
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  Speaker 1: they will be in touch much earlier if rent is
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  Speaker 1: missed to have a chat and to work out a
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  Speaker 1: payback plan. If this doesn't happen, if there is no
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  Speaker 1: intent to pay off debt, then eviction processes will begin,
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  Speaker 1: which could happen well before reaching the twelve week mark.
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  Speaker 1: So the message is very clear here. Sustaining tenancy's framework
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  Speaker 1: is coming to an end. It is going to be
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  Speaker 1: easy to evict people, but they'll be closely managed to
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  Speaker 1: prevent things getting to that point if possible, and I
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  Speaker 1: think we'd all agree people deserve an opportunity to get
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  Speaker 1: back on track and the last thing we want to
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  Speaker 1: see is an unnecessary increase in homelessness. As Associate Housing
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  Speaker 1: Minister Tama Poltaka said yesterday, while most king or attendants
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  Speaker 1: are great tenants who respect the properties and good neighbors
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  Speaker 1: and pay their rent on time, some need a little
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: more to talk encouragement to do the right thing. For
• 2:41
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