The impact of blessing new homes for Tairāwhiti whānau.

Whānau moving into the new homes, along with pakeke and Kāinga Ora staff, joined Morehu Pewhairangi (standing behind fence) to bless the homes. Picture by Strike Photography

Morehu Pewhairangi has blessed many of the 90 new Gisborne homes Kāinga Ora has built in the last two years.

As a kaikarakia based in Tairāwhiti, he knows that a blessing is an important part of providing homes for whānau who haven’t had anywhere suitable to live.

“Before anyone moves in, we perform karakia and walk through the homes, touching the walls and sprinkling water. This is done to cleanse the home and implant mauri (spiritual energy) into the whare.”

Morehu recently blessed two new homes built by the Iconiq Trade Academy. The academy is based at Gisborne Airport where they build homes before they are transported to site and connected to services.

Kāinga Ora is contracted to buy 10 of these offsite-manufactured homes from Iconiq this financial year.

The two new homes have been built to full universal design standards so they can be easily adapted for people with accessibility challenges.

The homes have been placed at the back of existing Kāinga Ora homes that had large sections. This makes the best use of limited land that is close to schools, shops and services.

The houses were blessed by Morehu, who was joined by the whānau who are moving into their homes, and pakeke (elders) from the Rongowhakaata iwi.

“Having our nannies and papas along helps us to make sure we are doing the right thing and keeps us safe.”

One of the people moving into the new Gisborne homes said: “I really wanted to be at the blessing as it is part of my culture and important to make the home feel safe before my whānau move in.”

He has been living in a severely overcrowded home. At times there can be 15 people staying in the three-bedroom home. He is moving close by with his partner and his niece.

“It is good Kāinga Ora is blessing these homes,” he said. “We wouldn’t move into a new home before it was blessed and we knew we were protected.”

Morehu’s grandfather was also a kaikarakia. His extensive whānau connections in Tairāwhiti have helped him connect with many of the people who move into the new homes.

When we can connect through our tipuna (ancestors), this has a huge effect on how the whānau feel as the whare is blessed, Morehu says.

“Karakia or blessings are like markers to indicate a move into another stage of your life. It is one of the steps towards overall wellbeing that a warm, dry, secure home contributes to whānau.”

• Kāinga Ora has 189 new homes in progress. These are homes that are in construction, contracted or for which procurement is under way. Planning and feasibility of another 130 homes are being considered. To find out what is planned and where homes are being built, a drop-in session is being held at HB Williams Memorial Library from 5.30pm to 7.30pm on Tuesday, March 26.