Halswell neighbours are fed up with HNZ and feel they have not been taken seriously.

Neighbourhoods with, and near, social housing blocks will be rendered "ghettos" unless the Government steps in to fix drug, crime and violence problems, residents say.

Homeowners from across Christchurch have come forward after Stuff published details of repeated break-ins, brawls and faeces smeared on cars near a Housing New Zealand (HNZ) complex in the central suburb of Phillipstown, to report similar problems with tenants in other Government-owned properties.

One man claimed a neighbour had raised a running lawnmower to his face and another had dealt drugs from a flat for several years.

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF Retired Halswell couple Malcolm and Isabella Pentecost are being threatened by unruly Housing New Zealand neighbours, much like those living next to a complex in Phillipstown.

Concerned residents from in and around the Phillipstown block on England St met police, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb and HNZ staff on Friday to discuss the problems. The neighbourhood had deteriorated since the HNZ units opened in mid-2016, they said. The development replaced two older state houses.

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One man, visibly upset and shaking, said he was fed up with fence jumping, trespassing, burglaries, neighbours shouting obscenities, the "heavy odour of cannabis", and furniture dumped on his property.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF Housing New Zealand says it will commit to more regular checks and better services after complaints stemming from a new complex in Phillipstown.

"Intensified housing, intensified issues. How can [HNZ] put the thing up two storeys, right beside me, without even asking? I can't even put a garage in another property I have unless I have the consent of two neighbours across the road and one beside me."

A resident from within the complex became upset when speaking of how she had to explain what "n....." meant to her child after hearing a neighbour's shouting.

"I came from an 18-year abusive relationship where I was beaten every day. Housing New Zealand gave me a home, but seeing that every day is just putting myself and my child back [into that situation]."

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF Pentecost says he bought one of a block of eight units from the plans about three-and-a-half years ago. Unbeknownst to him, Housing NZ had bought six of the others and the tenants have been causing trouble since.

HNZ area manager Fraser Benson, who was at the meeting, said the organisation would commit to more regular visits to the complex, including with police, and could "possibly" look at installing CCTV cameras in the area.

Staff had been working to introduce community support people and facilities and, in some of the bigger complexes, working with social agencies to provide 24/7 support, Benson said.

"We do also have the provision to sometimes move customers where it's not working."

At Friday's meeting, Webb acknowledged it was a wider issue than simply one unit in one social housing block and said he would discuss it with Housing Minister Phil Twyford.

"This is absolutely a governance issue that's got to come from the top . . . What I'm hearing is it's likely to be [a problem] replicated in different places around New Zealand."

The neighbour who organised Friday's meeting said the concentration of large complexes over only a few areas was "completely going the other way" from HNZ's goal of nurturing social housing.

"Nobody really wants to talk about the bigger impact of social housing on existing communities.

"They could put them in Fendalton but of course that won't happen. Social housing is a permitted activity anywhere, in any residential zone.

"They've just concentrated them all in one area and it's destroying communities, it's not enhancing them, and they will proliferate to nothing other than ghettos."

Property records show HNZ owns eight titles in Fendalton, four in Sumner and about 115 in Phillipstown.

Benson said there was not as much stock "in the Fendaltons and the Merivales", but HNZ did own property in wealthier areas.

"Merivale's probably not, for our customers, the best social housing area in terms of supports, social agencies, Work and Income and those sorts of things."

RETIRING TO 'BEDLAM'

The worst it got for Malcolm Pentecost was when one of his neighbours held an electric lawnmower, blades whirring, up to his face. Three-and-a-half years living in a block with HNZ tenants hasn't been much better, he says.

"The people that are in there are just scumbags.

"We're retired. We downsized from a bigger place into this small unit. I just turned 76 yesterday. I thought I was going to have a quiet life but it's just been bedlam."

Pentecost said he bought his retirement house, one of eight units in a development in the Longhurst subdivision in southwest Christchurch, off the plans, unaware HNZ had bought many of the others. Once the neighbours arrived, the trouble started: swearing, violence, cars broken into. A woman was dealing drugs from one unit, he said.

Pentecost said he reported the drug problem to HNZ. Bollards were installed on a back lane to discourage the traffic, which worked, but the dealing continued until the woman moved out last year.

A HNZ spokesman said two Caulfield Ave units tested positive for methamphetamine and one was found with a low level of contamination. It was thoroughly cleaned and re-tenanted, he said.

When another neighbour held the running lawnmower up to his face, Pentecost said he reported it to police. Other residents have complained to authorities too, he said. One found two youths with torches on his roof one night this week.

A resident of Doreen St, who had been in her home for 54 years, said she too had problems from neighbours after HNZ bought several pre-fabricated units made at Rolleston Prison.

"We never had this problem before they shifted in . . . this one here throws cat s... all over my driveway."

The Aranui resident attended Friday's meeting to ensure HNZ staff and Webb knew the issues extended beyond England St.