A NEW WAY OF WORKING: Kāinga Ora focuses on both tenant and asset

Having access to a stable, warm and dry home makes a positive difference to all aspects of a person’s life – from providing a safe place to live through to supporting improved health, education and employment outcomes. It’s this core idea that was one of the key drivers behind Kāinga Ora introducing a whole new way of working to make sure their customers have both the right home and the support to live well. 

With the aim of achieving better overall social outcomes for Kāinga Ora public housing customers, whānau and communities, this new approach recently won the Excellence in Social Housing 2023 award at the NZ Brighter Future Awards as an outstanding example of the delivery of social housing services in Aotearoa – something Kāinga Ora is really proud of. 

“We are incredibly proud to have won the Excellence in Social Housing Award this year," says Nick Maling, General Manager – National Services at Kāinga Ora. "The team have put immense thought and effort into ensuring customers are placed at the heart of everything we do as an organisation, and our new way of working shows how this is brought to life in the mahi (work) our people do every single day.” 

The new way of working introduced by Kāinga Ora is the result of a journey several years in the making, and backed by research. It enables Kāinga Ora to place emphasis on key moments – such as when a customer first moves into a Kāinga Ora home – and ensures their customer-facing teams have the time to engage with and support customers.

To do this, Kāinga Ora needed to make sure their customer-facing team had a smaller number of homes and smaller number of people to support. 

“As part of this, we also stepped back and looked at the roles themselves,” Nick says. “Our previous tenancy manager roles were primarily focused on taking care of an asset – a home. However, Kāinga Ora has a broader role focused on not only the quality of the homes they live in but also supporting customers to live well and sustain their tenancy. We wanted to make sure our customer-facing roles reflected that and the important work they do.”

As a result, Kāinga Ora reshaped these roles – now called 'housing support managers' – who play an integral part in the wellbeing approach Kāinga Ora takes. This enables them to work holistically to support and engage with customers, built on a deep understanding of their customers and what living well means for them. 

“Our new, wellbeing focused approach is underpinned by Te Whare Tapa Whā principles (Māori health principles), which recognise the critical part both personal and housing needs play in achieving overall wellbeing, and the interdependence between the two,” Nick says. 

What this looks like is different for each customer and, when needed, Kāinga Ora can play a part in helping connect people with other support, if that’s what they want or need. 

“For example, take a situation where a Housing Support Manager becomes aware that a sole parent with young children is feeling isolated and struggling to access essential items,” Nick continues. “If they’d like help connecting with local services, we can put them in touch with people who can make sure the whānau (family) have the essential items they need and are supported to reconnect with their community – perhaps through local parenting groups.”