Auckland property company in liquidation after taking millions in wage subsidies

PHOTO: Emergency housing. FILE

An Auckland property company that took millions in taxpayer funds to house the homeless has left Inland Revenue (IRD) and landlords out of pocket after going into liquidation.

Silverfern Property Services has received more than any other outfit for emergency housing – $14.7 million – and charged nearly $2000 per client per week to house people in rental properties it managed across South Auckland.

Tenants who stayed there described many of the homes as substandard.

Social worker Alastair Russell, who worked with families staying in the properties, said what he saw was not fit for people to live in.

“Debris around the outside of the houses, the houses were in many cases unclean, without proper and functioning utilities etc,” he said.

But despite the complaints, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) continued to use Silverfern Property Services and it was paid $12 million in the 18 months to June 2020.

Silverfern got $53,000 in wage subsidies during the Level 4 lockdown.

But after lockdown lifted MSD moved its clients out of rental properties and into other motel rooms.

It stopped providing emergency services midway through last year and the company went into liquidation last week.

In its liquidation report, Silverfern said it became insolvent when the Government cancelled its emergency housing because it had long term leases with landlords which it could not meet.

It also claims that emergency housing tenants damaged the leased properties which it had to fix.

The company’s only listed shareholder Zubeen Andaz refused to be interviewed for this story but last year told RNZ the $2000 cost per week of each tenancy was necessary, given the situations they had to deal with.