Job cuts follow 'financially unsustainable' period of growth
Kāinga Ora is proposing to cut 673 roles as part of the government agency's plan to provide a "more cost-effective" housing and support services in New Zealand.
In a statement, the government agency said the job cuts include 195 roles that are currently vacant.
The affected positions include some corporate, back-office, as well as customer-facing roles, including housing placement and call centre teams.
It stressed, however, that the agency's frontline tenancy management roles are not directly impacted by the proposed changes.
Matt Crockett, chief executive of Kāinga Ora, said the organisation's model and workforce need to reflect the agency's focus on providing social housing in a financially sustainable way.
"We need to align to this tighter focus, and reduced volume of activity, while enabling more cost-effective provision of housing and support services to our tenants. Unfortunately, that means there may be job losses," Crockett said in a statement.
Kāinga Ora staff have until April 22 to provide their feedback on the proposed cuts, with the agency aiming to finish the resizing process by June 30.
"While our people have been aware that workforce changes were coming, it has been a difficult day. Our priority now is ensuring we do everything we can over the coming weeks to support them through this process," Crockett said.
Consultations are also being carried out with the Public Service Association (PSA), which has expressed opposition to the job cuts.
"These proposals would result in the mass dismissal of experts who support tenants in public housing," said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association for Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi, in a statement.
Fitzsimons also criticised the impact of the proposed cuts to the agency's frontline team.
"They find the right houses in the right location for families on waiting lists, including taking people to home viewings - these are critical customer-facing roles and Kāinga Ora will still have 78,000 dwellings to manage," she said.
"Workloads will increase and service will slow - how does that help with waiting lists still growing?"
Kāinga Ora was first established in 2019, with its workforce growing to 3,514 as of December 2023.
The agency, however, implemented job cuts last year that have shrunk its workforce to 2,819 as of March 31, 2025.
Crockett said Kāinga Ora's mandate in 2019 saw it rapidly expand to deliver thousands of new social houses and urban development projects in New Zealand.
"That period of growth, however, was not financially sustainable. Kāinga Ora has since announced its reset and now needs to resize its workforce and renew the organisation to align to this new direction," he said.
