Lisa Howard (front) and friends at Ellerslie's Ladies Mile's public housing complex have been banned from having afternoon drinks in their common room. Photo: NZ Herald / Dean Purcell
- Kāinga Ora has banned a 93-year-old Auckland pensioner and his neighbours from meeting for happy hour drinks in their common room
- The room will now be locked after 4pm to stop alcohol consumption
- Kāinga Ora says there have been noise complaints. The elderly residents say they are usually finished by 6pm and always by 8.30pm
Kāinga Ora has banned a 93-year-old Auckland pensioner and his friends from meeting for happy hour drinks in their public housing complex's common room.
The group has been meeting every Friday for five years to socialise over a wine and shandy at Ellerslie's 66-unit Ladies Mile complex, tenant Lisa Howard says.
The venerable pensioner parties typically run from 4pm to 6pm, with regular attendees all aged 58 or over, she told the Herald.
However, Kāinga Ora now says it will close the ground-floor community room after 4pm to stop residents drinking alcohol in it.
There have been recent noise complaints in the evening, and activities in the room should not "negatively impact" others, it said.
Residents say a wild night for them ends at 8.30pm and can't understand why their drinks are being shut down. Pictured from front first and with first names only: Noreen, Barry, Bill and Betty. Second row: Lilly, Lisa, Kathleen, Sybil. Back row: Greg, Bob, Mark, Carol and George. Photo: NZ Herald / Dean Purcell
But Howard said she is not aware of any recent noise complaints, and the soirees alleviate loneliness and promote community spirit.
And with bad knees and hips putting paid to any hell-raising, she said the events end early: no later than 8.30pm even on rare "milestone" nights like birthday celebrations.
"It's not exactly like we're going to be out there destroying public property and dancing on the tables," Howard said.
"Christ, half of us can't even get up off our chairs."
The dispute first flared late last year, Howard said, when her group "got a bit noisy for an elderly gentleman that lives upstairs above the common room" and he complained to the public housing agency's property managers.
Her group made an effort to ensure they did not make as much noise again, she said.
However, John Tubberty, Kāinga Ora's regional director for Central and East Auckland, said the community room is designed as a "welcoming place where tenants can connect, host events, and create a sense of community" and while tenants are allowed to drink in their own rooms, alcohol is not permitted in the community room.
He said as a landlord, Kāinga Ora has a responsibility to protect the quiet enjoyment of all its tenants.
Yet Howard claimed Kāinga Ora's actions lacked sensitivity. She said a Kāinga Ora employee put up an alcohol ban notice on the day the group was holding its last Friday drinks before Christmas.
Howard says she told the employee to "cut that out".
"I said: 'It's right on Christmas, there's no official policy and it's not in our tenancy agreement, so it doesn't stand'."
Kāinga Ora this week sent a letter to its senior tenants, saying their common room partying days are over. Photo: NZ Herald / Dean Purcell
Yet, the issue has not gone away.
Tubberty has received more noise complaints in recent weeks, he said.
His team responded last week by dropping letters in every residents' letterbox.
The letter stated the room would now only open Monday-Friday from 9am-4pm and would be locked at all other times.
"We will keep this under review but for now this arrangement will remain in place to ensure a comfortable and inclusive environment for everyone," the letter said.
"They keep saying they're 'bringing communities together' and now they're trying to stop us from using that room," Howard said.
The soirees have only about 8-10 regulars, including one aged in his 90s, and some do not drink because they are on medication, Howard claimed.
"We play easy listening music and we just have a laugh and giggle - that's our Friday night," Howard said.
"We're finished by usually six o'clock ... and half-past-eight when it's been a milestone."
- This story was originally published by the New Zealand Herald.