Filling a need for healthy homes

Paul Te Huki will work with Angela Rainham and others in the Kāinga Whakatipu programme in Tararua District. Photo / Leanne Warr

An initiative to reduce hospitalisations for low-income families has now been launched in the Tararua District.

Kāinga Whakatipu, or the Healthy Homes Initiative, aims to increase the number of children and their whānau living in warm, dry and healthy homes, which would also enhance their wellbeing.

Many homes in the Tararua District have problems with dampness causing hospitalisations.

Programme director Angela Rainham said the launch was bringing together people who would be delivering the programme in the Tararua District, as well as some of the programme partners.

The programme was first started between 2013 and 2015 in other regions, targeting low-income families with children at risk of rheumatic fever.

Rainham said the criteria was expanded to include 10 to 14-year-olds who’ve had repeat hospitalisations from a housing-related condition and families with children aged between zero and five years old.

Due to the success of the programme in those regions, it was decided to roll it out across the country, she said.

The programme was named Kāinga Whakatipu due to the fact that many programmes throughout the country also utilised the phrase ‘healthy homes’.

“We thought it was important to give our programme its own name,” Rainham said.

“[It] describes a place where whānau grow and are raised with wholesome values.”

She said ‘whakatipu’ was used as a modifier for ‘kāinga’ as it was about building a prosperous future.

The programme would include a housing assessment, where homes would be assessed and whānau would be provided guidance on how to make them warmer, drier and safer.

In a three-year evaluation published in October last year, it was noted that there had been a 19.8 per cent reduction in hospitalisations for referred tamariki.

That also led to better outcomes, such as children being able to attend school more and their parents not needing to stay home from work as much to take care of them.

Rainham said the programme would work through referrals, and it was hoped that those who worked with whānau in the community would keep the programme in mind when it was seen there was a need.

She said referrals would also come in from any hospitalisations, as well as other organisations.

As part of the programme, whānau could also be referred to other agencies where they could get help, including Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the Ministry of Social Development and others.

Rainham said they wanted to get out into rural areas because many of the homes were cold and damp.

She said a lot of whānau within the Tararua District also fit the criteria for the programme.

“We thought Tararua District would be great to pilot [the programme], because there’s definitely a need.”

Tararua District Mayor Tracey Collis saw the excitement in the room at the launch of the Kāinga Whakatipu programme.

Tararua District Mayor Tracey Collis said it was great to see the excitement in the room for the launch.

“There is so much need, and we just haven’t been able to meet that.”

She said having the programme would make a difference in people’s lives.

Collis said the problem was not just in the townships, as it was also in a lot of farming homes as well - having experienced that herself.

She said there were a lot of cold, old homes out there, but people didn’t have a lot of money to make the improvements.

“When you don’t have money, you don’t have options.”