Housing Support Manager - Whanganui

Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities; Whanganui, Auckland; On-site; NZD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Five weeks' annual leave

Flexible working arrangements

Pool vehicle provided

Job summary

Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities is seeking a Housing Support Manager in Whanganui. You will work with customers and their whānau to secure housing stability, support wellbeing needs, and maintain tailored services.

The role involves visiting homes, engaging with stakeholders, and handling rent arrears as part of comprehensive housing support. You will travel around the local area, build strong relationships, and participate in courageous conversations to transform community outcomes.

Qualifications

• Ability to build relationships with customers from diverse backgrounds.
• Skilled at de-escalating highly emotional conversations and solving problems.
• Comfortable working on rent arrears and debt recovery.
• Willing to travel long distances within the region and learn new tools/systems.

Responsibilities

• Support customers and whānau to achieve housing and social stability.
• Build meaningful relationships and make a lasting impact in the community.
• Travel around the local area to ensure tailored support and services stay in place.

Skills

Relationship-building

De-escalation

Rent arrears

Debt recovery

Learning new tools

Residential Tenancy Act knowledge

Job description

• Support customers and whānau to achieve housing and social stability
• Build meaningful relationships and make a lasting impact in your community
• Permanent opportunity based in Whanganui with 5 weeks' annual leave + other benefits

As Housing Support Manager, you will work directly with a portfolio of our customers and their whānau, building enriching and enduring relationships to ensure customers' housing and wellbeing needs are being met and continue to be met as they change over time.

You will be supporting some of our low and medium needs customers and manage some disruptive behaviour situations as well. You will be skilled to hold difficult and courageous conversations with our customers and stakeholders when the situation demands.

You will visit our customers at their Kāinga Ora homes and, from time to time, attend meetings with key stakeholders to ensure tailored support and services stay in place for our customers and their whānau. This also means that you will be able to travel long distance in and around the region.

You will also be required to work with our tenants on rent arrears and debt collection/recovery.

If you have the ability to build strong relationships, have courageous conversations and a genuine desire to transform our communities, then we would love to hear from you.

Here’s what you will bring to the role:

• You'll be a natural relationship-builder, relating to customers from all backgrounds and all walks of life.
• You'll be skilled at de-escalating highly emotional situations and conversations, with the ability to problem solve and understand the reasons behind customer issues.
• You'll be comfortable and skilled to work on rent arrears and debt recovery.
• You'll be technical savvy to quickly learn new tools and systems.
• Experience in tenancy, emergency or social housing space will be an added advantage.
• Added advantage if you have knowledge of Residential Tenancy Act.
• We need people who care as much as we do and are passionate about supporting customers who may have challenging housing and wellbeing needs.
• Your cultural awareness will foster an aligned approach to our customers' aspirations and preferences, particularly in working with Māori and Pasifika.

As this role requires travelling around the local area, you will have a current, full clean NZ driver's licence (pool vehicle provided).

Nōu te rourou - What's in it for you?

We offer competitive salaries, five weeks' annual leave, and flexible working arrangements.

As a Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities employee, we want to make sure that you have all the tools and support you need. We want to ensure you are healthy and have work-life balance.

At Kāinga Ora, our mahi sits at the heart of Aotearoa’s housing system. Every day, we help shape how our customers live today and into the future. It’s meaningful mahi, and we’re transforming how we work so we can deliver even better outcomes.

Our transformation focuses on three things:

• Our future – building a high performing organisation that delivers quality housing for generations.
• Our tenants – warm, dry, well-maintained homes and the right support to help people live well.
• Our people – simple processes, modern technology and opportunities to learn, grow and thrive.

Guided by our values, we work together, put customers at the centre and continually challenge ourselves to be better.

Kāinga Ora is a place where people feel valued and supported. You’ll find opportunities to grow your skills and build a career you’re proud of, with fair pay and flexible ways of working that support both our people and our customers.

Our values were developed by us, for us. They unite us as an organisation and guide how we work every day. Our values are:

Please note, you’ll need support from your current People Leader to proceed with your application. Please let them know that you’ve found an opportunity that you’re excited about, if you haven’t spoken to them already.

Applications close on Monday, 28 th September 2026 at 11:55pm.

As part of our commitment to supporting employees through organisational change, affected Kāinga Ora employees will be considered for vacancies in the first instance. We value diversity and are committed to working with each other and our customers in an inclusive and respectful way. We welcome applicants from all walks of life and appreciate the richness of experience that your point of difference brings to the organisation.