672 (2026). Hon Kieran McAnulty to the Minister of Housing

672 (2026). Hon Kieran McAnulty to the Minister of Housing: How does Kāinga Ora define frontline staff and operational support staff?

Hon Chris Bishop: For the 2024/25 Annual Review, I am advised Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities split frontline and back-office roles by mapping cost centres. Customer facing and core delivery cost centres were treated as Frontline, while support services (e.g., finance, IT, leadership) were mapped to Back Office. Under this earlier approach, support roles sitting within frontline business groups were also grouped as frontline by default. In November 2025, Kāinga Ora introduced a new definition of Frontline Staff, limited to positions with direct, face-to-face contact with tenants or direct customer interaction via service channels. All roles were reassessed, and support roles within frontline business groups, that do not have direct customer contact are now classified as back office. Kāinga Ora does not have a separate category for Operational Support Staff. This is also my response to questions 673 (2026) and 675 (2026).