Kia ora koutou
We’re now into the first month of winter and the weather hasn’t been too bad yet – fingers crossed that it won’t get too cold in the coming weeks. I imagine many of you have been enjoying the Football World Cup that’s underway. As the mother of two boys, it’s wall-to-wall sport in our house at the moment!
The results of our 2026 Tenant Satisfaction survey are in, and we’re delighted that – for the seventh year in a row – tenants have returned an overall satisfaction rating of more than 90% for our service delivery, with a total score of 96%. We also had a much greater response rate (64%, up from last year’s 56%) which is one of the highest levels of participation in recent years. I would like to thank everyone who completed the survey, as it provides us with valuable feedback and gives us an indication of where we can improve our services to you yet further.
The survey results are also testament to the great work of our staff and contractors who do their utmost every day to serve and support our village communities. In our goal to continuously improve, many of our team also attended this month’s Community Housing Aotearoa Conference. This is a great opportunity to connect with peers from across the housing sector and gain knowledge and ideas for how to grow and enhance our services for tenants.
In other staff news, we’ve recently said a fond farewell to Community Manager Malia, who has left to pursue a new career in social work following her recent graduation in that subject. Our Community Managers Nicky and Michelle will now be covering Malia’s villages in the East and West while we recruit for Malia’s replacement.
That’s all from me for now. Mānawatia a Matariki! Happy Matariki!
Olivia Poulsen
Chief Executive
Spotlight on Tane Street Village
Our village spotlight article this month comes to you directly from tenants of Tane Street Village in New Lynn who have provided the following overview:
"We are a smaller village but still retain all our regular 24/7 maintenance services and weekly community manager visits. We are six units occupied by Sandie, Virginia, Noeline, John, Mary-Anne with caregiver son and Geoff. As far as compatibility goes, we are all matured differently but do co-operate in a friendly manner, all of the time.
Any personal problems we tend to share them amongst ourselves and sort them out, such as if one of us wants to purchase a new phone – amongst us, we can usually put them on the right path from experience.
To be housed in reasonably priced, very functional units such as these is indeed a privilege and a grateful thanks to the sponsors of these villages, Haumaru, Auckland Council and The Selwyn Foundation.
The other really pleasant and safe side of this village is that it's in a relatively quiet area. It has Waitākere Neighbourhood Support status and great watchful ‘over the road residents’ and we do enjoy our sleep!
P.S. And we do have a hairdresser straight across the road from us, who does give us discounts!”
Tenants Geoff and Sandie are pictured at the 2025 village Christmas party.
Washing day
Thanks to Massey Matters’ Manutewhau Community Hub (which is supported by the Henderson-Massey Local Board), Flagstaff Court villagers enjoyed a hands-on “Make your own cleaning products” session in their community house on 27 May. Tenants made their own low-cost washing powder, cleaning spray and wipe and a cleaning paste to take home with them, with all the ingredients supplied by the Community Hub. The workshop was a huge success and will now become a monthly event, helping tenants to both save money and reduce waste at the same time.
Flagstaff village making cleaning products
Getting to know you
When tenants from across the North Shore met recently at a Haumaru stakeholder engagement event at Sunnynook community centre, they were inspired to organise another catch-up independently at Northcote’s Greenslade Village. So, on 18 June, Piringa, Torbay and Greenslade villagers met up for a lovely tenant-run morning tea. It was a great success, and it’s hoped that there will be many more such gatherings in the future.Meet the neighbours
A genuine friendship has blossomed between Takapuna’s Peggy Phillips village and the Puriri Park retirement community right next door. Puriri Park villagers have taken the lead in running their social club, which has been a great success for both them and our tenants, who are warmly welcomed to join in. Each month, Peggy Phillips tenants are invited over for coffee and cake, and they’ve also attended other events such as the recent market day and sing-along afternoon. In return, Peggy Phillips have been inviting their Puriri Park neighbours to their own village events. It’s wonderful to see this special relationship continue to flourish.
Delivering service excellence: 2026 Tenant Satisfaction Survey results
We’ve now received the results of our 2026 independent survey of tenant satisfaction and are delighted that our range of services continues to be very highly rated by you, with exceptionally high scores achieved across all the main areas of our service delivery. With overall satisfaction over 90% for the seventh consecutive year (at 96%), particularly positive ratings were achieved for:
- Quality of communication received (97%)
- Service provided by Haumaru Housing staff overall (95%)
- Help and support provided by staff for new tenants settling in (94%)
- The way staff deal with any problems tenants may have (94%)
- Service provided by our contractors overall (96%)
- Quality of maintenance work done (96%)
- Ease of contacting someone who could help you (95%)
- Grounds maintenance overall (94%)
- Contractors' manner (94%)
- How quickly things are repaired (94%)
- Perceptions of safety and security in the home (94%)
- Satisfaction with current level of connection and involvement (94%)
These are marvellous results and a testament to the dedication of our staff and contractors as well as our focus on high standards and being responsive. We’ll now analyse the results in greater detail and will continue to look for additional ways we can further improve our services to you in the weeks and months to come.
Busy, busy, busy
Keeping up with the latest
- Tenants are advised never to leave their bank cards or personal information in letterboxes or outside their home. In this new scam, offenders contact people by phone and pretend to be investigating fraudulent use of their bank card. They instruct the person to place their bank card in their letterbox so it can be “collected for investigation”. Offenders then later retrieve the cards and use them to withdraw cash or make purchases. It’s important never to follow such instructions or provide your PIN, passwords or banking details to anyone over the phone. If you are unsure, hang up and contact your bank using the official phone number.
- New PhD research at the University of Waikato is conducting a national survey about decision-making on when older people with memory loss or cognitive impairment should stop driving. If you are supporting, or have supported, an older person with memory loss or cognitive impairment who is still driving or has recently stopped driving, you may be eligible to take part in the survey at: https://waikato.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0H63qOi97AZa594. This research is approved by University of Waikato Ethics Committee (Reference number: HREC(Health)2023#44, University of Waikato).