Three years living in a street with a problem Housing NZ tenant has left a reader questioning just who HNZ's 'sustainable tenancies' - are sustainable for?

I live in small town suburban Motueka.

It used to be a quiet, peaceful street when we moved in more than a decade ago.

Our street has a mixture of privately-owned homes and Housing NZ ones but none of this was of much consequence - until Housing NZ moved in a new tenant three years ago.

In those three years I've learnt more about child neglect and abuse, violent communication, toxic relationships, protection orders, noise control and what a tinny house in action looks like than I ever knew before.

READ MORE: * Two men airlifted to hospital after hit and run in Motueka

I've seen first-hand how the law comes down hard in favour of the woman, even when she's by far the more abusive parent and partner.

Virginia Woolf "Or is the sound of car windows being smashed in, raging young men, frantic female screaming, out of control engine revving, and the red and blue strobe lights pouring in the windows in the middle of the night just something we have to live with?"

I've made more calls to the police than ever before in my life and I've learnt that when you communicate your very real concerns about vulnerable children to Oranga Tamariki (The Ministry for Children), you can expect silence in return.

The other main lesson I've learnt is that Housing NZ's new policy on 'sustainable tenancies' has an ironic twist.

Now, there's been a lot of coverage in the media this year about redressing the injustices visited upon those Housing NZ tenants who were wrongly accused and penalised for the methamphetamine contamination of their houses.

This pressure on Housing NZ, combined with a change to a government with a stronger social conscience than the last, seems to have brought tenants' rights to the forefront of the conversation.

Now, don't get me wrong, I believe in the rights of tenants and I am supportive of Housing NZ providing affordable and secure housing to those who need it (and let's face it, in this day and age, there are many).

However, when Housing NZ representatives categorically tell you after receiving years of complaints from multiple neighbours that there's no way they are going to move their problem tenant - no matter what her behaviours - then you have to question who these tenancies are really sustainable for.

And the answer is that they're certainly not for the long-suffering pensioners who've lived on the street quietly for decades, or the solo mum who's trying her darndest to give her brood a better start than what she had herself.

Nor for the hard-working families, quietly living their lives and just trying to enjoy life and raise their kids.

But maybe since last Friday night things will be different?

Virginia Woolf "I've made more calls to the police than ever before in my life and I've learnt that when you communicate your very real concerns about vulnerable children to Oranga Tamariki (The Ministry for Children), you can expect silence in return."

Maybe now there's been a hit and run with one person still seriously injured in hospital, they'll reconsider?

Maybe in the light of the fact that since their tenant's very loud and violent relationship has finally ended and she has chosen to fill her house with young men, some of whom were allegedly among those involved in last Friday night's terrifying incident, they'll have a re-think?

Or is the sound of car windows being smashed in, raging young men, frantic female screaming, out of control engine revving, and the red and blue strobe lights pouring in the windows in the middle of the night just something we have to live with?

Maybe. But not sustainably.

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