Wairoa district is home to about 9,000 people, and about 70 per cent are Māori. Photo / RNZ / Tom Kitchin
It has one of the highest social housing waitlists per head of population in the country.
Adding to the pressure are house prices, which have shot up, often at some of the highest rates in the country, and the average price has more than doubled in the past three years, from $145,000 to $380,000.
Tātau Tātau o te Wairoa is the post-Treaty settlement governance entity for Wairoa.
General manager Lewis Ratapu said the entity was planning to build over 50 homes on a grassy field across the road from the town’s hospital.
“It’s just under 3 hectares. We’ve got plans to build 56 homes. In the middle of the community, we’re going to have a 13-bed supported community facility for kaumātua.”
Around that facility will be homes for whānau.
The project embraces whanaungatanga - family connection or kinship - and would avoid the elderly being separated from their community in rest homes.
“It’s got the intergenerational interaction - it’s got kaumātua with families and kids in the same community. It’s a real whānau ora approach,” Ratapu said.
Tātau Tātau is in negotiations with the Government regarding funding for the millions of dollars needed to start building.
A look at what Tātau Tātau's village could look like. Photo / RNZ / Tom Kitchin
Agencies in the small town also recently got just shy of a million dollars from the Government to develop a housing hub - a one-stop shop for advice and help.
The aim is to get people out of emergency housing and into home ownership.
Wairoa’s housing strategy co-ordinator Melissa Kaimoana said there was urgent need.
“Whānau are telling us that they’re living in overcrowded homes, or homes that are in need of critical repair - they’re cold and unhealthy.”
