Following the discovery of an elderly man's decomposing body in a Wellington apartment block, there have been reminders to get to know your neighbours.
The man's body was found by police last night in a Housing New Zealand block of apartments on Dixon St in the CBD.
They say it appears the body had been there "for some time" and his death is not considered suspicious.
The alarm was raised by a neighbour who hadn't seen him for a while.
Housing New Zealand says they'd met with the man twice in the past five months and his neighbours would also "touch base" with him regularly.
Area manager Alice Daniel Kirk says the organisation meets with tenants and does property inspections once a year.
"We also do checks on some of our vulnerable tenants. However we do need to balance this with tenant privacy."
They encourage tenants to meet their neighbours and keep an eye out for each other.
Housing New Zealand recently organised a BBQ with St Vincent De Paul for the tenants of the Dixon St apartments for them get to know each other.
Police and Housing New Zealand are working together on the man's death, which has been referred to the coroner.
Work is being carried out to formally identify the man and a post-mortem will be carried out today.
The man's death is the latest in a number of similarly unfortunate cases where older Wellington residents have been found long periods after they died.
Most recently, a 78-year-old man was dead found in his upmarket St Paul's apartment in March having potentially been there for two months. No living relatives were found.
Wellington City Council's neighbourhood development coordinator Angela Rampton says it has programmes for older residents where they can socialise and for staff to keep in contact, but there are some who shy away from that.
"That's their right, but for those adults we do extra welfare visits. They phone them and if they don't answer the phone they follow up with welfare checks," she says.
Ms Rampton says here job is to foster neighbourliness among all Wellingtonians.
"Whether you live in a street or an apartment or a million dollar penthouse on Oriental Bay, everyone should be keeping an eye out for the people who live around them."
While it may seem these grisly finds happen more frequently in Wellington, Ms Rampton says social isolation is a problem across the country.
"It isn't just a Wellington-specific problem, it's not just a social housing problem, it is a wider community problem and I think it is also a sign of the time with people moving into inner-city apartments.
"Unless you happen to leave your apartment at the same time, you're not necessarily going to be bumping into your neighbours as much as you would on a suburban street so that may be why there is more of this."
Work will now go into supporting the remaining tenants who may be left traumatised by the incident. This will involve a number of agencies including police, Housing New Zealand, Victim Support and the Council, Ms Rampton says.
Age Concern New Zealand chief executive Stephanie Clare says the organisation was "distressed and disappointed" by the circumstances the man was found in.
She says the country's aging population puts older New Zealander's at a higher risk of social isolation.
"It's everyone's responsibility to make sure no one is allowed to be left in a place where they aren't found after they have passed away."
Police say more information about the man will be released when it becomes available.
Newshub.
