Housing NZ to Compensate 800 Tenants Over Bogus Meth Testing
Housing New Zealand (HNZ) will compensate 800 tenants kicked out of their homes for positive methamphetamine tests that the agency now admits were wrongly used and not needed. The agency has apologized and admitted that it misused a Ministry of Health guideline while pursuing a "dogmatic" policy of zero tolerance it now admits has "little merit" and cost $100 million in unnecessary tests and cleanup. A recent report found that, between July 2013 and May 2018, nearly 5,000 HNZ properties were tested for meth contamination, with about half of these tests testing positive. Just one-fifth of the tested properties would fail the new standard set in May, which is 10 times higher than the previous trigger. Around 2,400 people were likely affected.