Scramble for staff to fix Minister's 0800 folly

The Minister of Housing has his agency scrambling to hire staff just two months after the launch of his flagship call centre scheme, proving it has been an abject failure, says Labour’s Housing spokesperson Annette King.

“The introduction of this 0800 ‘service’ has put Housing New Zealand (HNZ) tenants under an enormous amount of stress, and as predicted, the call centre has not been able to handle demand.

“The Minister has bragged that HNZ was answering 20,000 plus calls a week. The truth is the number is only half that, with Auckland tenants reportedly having to wait at least 25 minutes to have their calls answered,” Annette King said.

“As Labour predicted, closing Housing New Zealand offices has just shifted the problems to non-government groups and MPs’ electorate offices.

“The Minister’s admission in the House today that he will continue to hire staff, ‘week after week after week, after week’ to sort the problem out sounded hopeful. But according to HNZ’s own website the agency is only advertising ‘a number’ of part time staff in its Auckland call centre.

“Public service by a telephone line cannot replace the human contact needed to resolve people problems.

“Phil Heatley may wear a Ministerial hat, but he doesn’t wear the responsibility that goes with it at all well,” Annette King said.