An old way of building homes

Representatives from the Te Tai Tokerau Maori housing provider Te Ahikaaroa Trust, Ahipara were among more than 160 attendees at this years national Maori housing conference in Wanganui, where Associate Minister of Housing Tariana Turia announced new government funding of $16 million over four years to support the repair and rebuild of rural housing, and the development of Maori social housing providers through capability- and capacity-building and capital grants.

We have also been able to allocate funding to improve housing in rural areas, she said.

Compared to the rest of the population, significantly more Maori are experiencing housing deprivation and are more likely to be state tenants or renters than home owners, and this funding will assist in making basic lifestyle costs less prohibitive.

We need to work collaboratively and quickly to enable every home to be a sanctuary of its making, a place in which all our children can thrive, all our older people have a place to call home and our mums and dads can be proud of the strong start they are creating for the future leaders to inhabit.

Te Ahikaaroa manager Heeni Hoterene, who spoke on behalf of the trust on whanau and hapu seeking their own solutions to building on Maori land, citing examples from the trusts own housing project at Ahipara, described the conference as invaluable.

The networking opportunities alone are worth it. We are developing great relationships with the different organisations, and establishing mentoring schemes within these networks, she said.

The conference had also confirmed the disparity between what was offered by different councils, naming the Western Bays authority as a prime example of how a council could work with Maori land owners in a highly co-operative way.

The reality is that the FNDC is one of the worst for deliberately inhibiting Maori from building on their land, she added.

Meanwhile Te Ahikaaroa Trust had come a long way since the original rammed earth housing papakainga project was launched in 2010. The three-bedroom home, where Mrs Hoterene and her family are living, was completed late last year and in February the trust began building the first of three more homes for extended whanau. Whanau are employed by the trust to do the work, which is scheduled for completion by the end of the year.

The build now under way was the first eco-sustainable project the government had funded, she said, adding that the goal was to create a model that could be used for good-quality housing. And there was plenty of scope, with 130,000 hectares of Maori land in the Far North district that was not being used.

Mrs Hoterene believed a number of factors were behind the struggle with Maori and what to do with their land.

There is a disconnect with the land and whanau due to being out of the loop and/or the country for a few generations, she said, adding that a large part of the trusts role was to support whanau to achieve their goals.

We have a relationship with the whanau from the beginning. We help with the planning stages, advising with establishing family trusts, supporting whanau to reconnect, she said.

We want to work with whanau and hapu because they own the land.

If the people of the land are involved in decision-making for themselves, their commitment to their land and housing becomes even more important.

Back in my great-grandparents time we all helped each other to build homes. Thats how our early housing came about. We just want to go back to those community ways and create housing in this way.

The trust, which had plans to cover all aspects of housing, from emergency to low-income rental, ownership and papakainga, would stage an open day in the spring, along with workshops, to show the community and interested parties just what it had achieved so far.

It was also developing a future project at Pukepoto, and was working with the James Henare Research Centre to develop a mobile soil testing unit that could be used on test the viability of soils for future housing projects.

Its exciting times now. This is a real example of tino rangatiratanga for people, Mrs Hoterene said.