About us

The formation of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities in October 2019 marked the beginning of a step change in housing and urban development in New Zealand.

Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities is a crown entity set up under the Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities Act 2019. It is a Crown agency under the Crown Entities Act 2004.

Kāinga Ora is resetting its focus so it can better serve tenants and communities and leave a sustainable social housing legacy for future generations.

New Zealand has a history of state involvement in housing that stretches back to 1894.

We care about both the quality of our homes and the wellbeing of the 190,000 people living within them – of which around 40% are children and young people. 

• Our approach to disruptive behaviour
• Our approach to rent debt

At Kāinga Ora we are committed to growing diversity across the organisation and enabling a culture of inclusion in everything we do.

Each quarter, Kāinga Ora publishes three sets of information for our managed stock,vacant properties and homes removed from service.

At Kāinga Ora, we have an important responsibility of transforming New Zealand’s housing choices, outcomes and the entire housing sector by creating homes and communities that allow New Zealanders to thrive.

• Minimising construction waste
• Solar innovation
• Kāinga Ora Passive Houses

In our journey to deliver housing and urban development we meet some incredible people, and discover some amazing stories. See the Kāinga Ora story throughout the videos.

Legislation that guides the way we work.

Kāinga Ora has a responsibility to ensure we are getting housing right for all our customers, including those with accessibility needs. We have had an Accessibility Policy in place since 2020, which sets out our commitment for our public housing properties.

• Disabled Customer Working Group

Several thousand records relating to many aspects of state housing, including those relating to houses at one time owned by the state, are held by Archives New Zealand.