Cyclone Gabrielle has hit Gisborne with State Highway 35 near Mangatuna being completely cut off due to a bridge being washed away. Photo / George Heard
Cyclone Gabrielle has hit Gisborne with State Highway 35 near Mangatuna being completely cut off due to a bridge being washed away. Photo / George Heard
Matthew Rosenberg, Local Democracy reporter
A man on a mission to house people displaced by Cyclone Gabrielle has painted a grim picture of Tairāwhiti’s worst-affected residents in a fiery email to the district council.
Toitu Tairāwhiti Builtsmart Ltd director Willie Te Aho has worked tirelessly to house people in temporary homes following the cyclone, while many wait for repairs to their permanent residence.
Te Aho told Gisborne District Council by email that more than 40 whānau from Te Karaka were living in motels or overcrowded spaces following the storm, many of whom were struggling mentally.
”I’ve been living in Puha behind Te Karaka away from my immediate whānau since I got off the Te Matatini stage on February 25, 2023, and drove to Te Karaka the next day,” he wrote.
“Then on February 27, [I] met with 64 people who were still living at Te Karaka Area School two weeks after they were smashed.
”They had low morale. No certainty. No hope.”
But Te Aho also took aim at the council’s handling of those doing it tough, saying the organisation’s system was “racist and broken” and had left people behind.
The council was working too slowly on consents, he said, and was not used to working in an emergency.
He detailed an in-person meeting he had with the council’s building services manager Ian Petty earlier in the month, which included Toitu Tairāwhiti Builtsmart Ltd’s architect.
”I wanted to make sure that [the architect] had no obstacles with putting these houses on the land for our whānau in desperate need,” Te Aho said.
Iwi housing advocate Willie Te Aho. Photo / Andrew Warner
At that meeting, Te Aho explained he wanted the houses to be built under exemption, but was told by Petty they should be completed through the normal consent application process because of the permanent nature of the buildings.
Although reluctant, Te Aho agreed on the basis the applications would be personally handled by Petty.
Te Aho said his architect then worked on a full building consent application only to have the council later request fuller reports and assessments.
”This is what I was fearful of, Ian. That when you are not directly involved we are back to the death by 1000 cuts that is the normal process.”
Petty replied to those frustrations, saying the council had received exemption applications despite making it clear at the in-person meeting that a building consent was required.
Te Aho then accused the council of not caring about the mental health of Māori who were living in sheds and motels, saying the system was creating poor outcomes.
”I am not going to approach you for any more ... consents for our whare manaaki.”
Council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann responded to that email on Petty’s behalf saying Te Aho’s correspondence was “completely unacceptable”. She also took exception with “multiple instances of vulgar language” and staff being called racist.
The council would not respond to any further communications from him that were threatening, abusive or contained vulgar language, she said, while warning that failure to comply with obligations under the Building Act could result in enforcement action.
Te Aho’s tense relationship with the district council has been fraying for some time.
In March, he said the organisation was getting in the way of rehousing displaced families, while calling for legislative changes that would enable an iwi-led response to natural disasters.
Earlier this month, he opposed the council being given $38.8 million for silt removal, in his capacity as Te Aitanga a Mahaki lead negotiator.
He said the money could be better used and utilised by iwi.
Toitu Tairāwhiti Builtsmart Ltd is a unique collaboration between East Coast iwi established last November to address the region’s housing crisis with affordable homes.
By May 30, the company says it will have 100 whare manaaki installed from Pōtaka in the north to Wairoa in the south.
· Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
