Maioha Phillips and her children have a new three-bedroom home thanks to a new iwi-led affordable rental scheme at Ōwhata. Photo / Kelly Makiha
Maioha Phillips has spent about four years in and out of Rotorua emergency housing motels, bunking in with family or briefly living in unstable pricey rentals.
The solo mother with two young girls and one on the way was done.
But at the weekend, Phillips moved into a new three-bedroom rental home on her iwi’s land.
The Ōwhata Kōhanga Rākau iwi-led housing development on the east side of Rotorua officially opened on Friday with the first 16 homes of what will eventually be 93 new houses.
The development is on 3.5 hectares of Māori-owned former forestry land behind Fresh Choice supermarket on Te Ngae Rd.
The entire housing development will see a mix of 38 affordable rentals and kaumātua housing, 27 homes to buy and 28 social housing rentals managed by social services provider Emerge Aotearoa. The total cost once completed will be $55 million, with the Government contributing $24.5 million.
The land is owned by Ōwhata 2B and 7 Ahuwhenua Trusts.
Those renting the homes will pay 80% of market rent. Buyers of the homes for sale will pay 75% of the house price with a mortgage and deposit through a bank with the remaining 25% coming from an interest-free loan through Ōwhata Kōhanga Rākau.
Applicants affiliated to the Ngāti Te Roro-o-te-rangi hapū and Te Arawa iwi will be prioritised.
Invited guests, including iwi and Government officials and those moving into the first new rentals, attended the official opening on Friday.
Ōwhata Kōhanga Rākau chairman Jason Rogers said it had been a “huge undertaking” but they were thrilled with the outcome.
He said while the prices for rentals varied for each home depending on their specifications, in general terms a new three-bedroom home rented for $700 a week on the open market. He said those living at Ōwhata Kōhanga Rākau would pay $550 a week - immediately putting a saving each week in each whānau’s pocket.
He said the homes provided a sense of belonging and helped financially.
“We have heard some of those moving in say it’s like coming back to the pā for them, like in the old days.”
That couldn’t be more true for Phillips.
Not only was she successful in applying for a home, but so too were her sister and cousin - all three of whom will be living within a few houses of each other on their new street.
She will now have whānau support nearby as well as the comfort of knowing she had a stable long-term rental home.
“It’s been really hard to get a house because of the housing situation that has been going on in Rotorua. I’m really just so grateful to have this house.”
Her new home costs $550 a week. Her previous rental in Koutū, which she described as “nothing like the new home”, cost $580 a week.
Phillips has had a hard housing road. She moved into emergency housing when her two girls, now aged 6 and 7, were young because there was little room where they were living at Phillips’ mother’s house.
“My mum had seven kids living with her at her house, being a mum and having two children it was hard being at the house when it was so crowded. I thought it would be better to be in emergency housing.”
For about four years they were shipped around different emergency housing motels.
“It was tough at times because of the drugs and alcohol and the different types of people around. Sometimes it could get pretty violent.”
She finally got out and boarded with her sister before getting her own rental on Deere Ave. But soon after, that rental sold and she was forced back into emergency housing.
When that became too tough, she went back to her mother’s home and tried to apply for rentals but found it difficult to get accepted. She finally struck luck when she reached out to a private property manager on Facebook who had a rental in Koutū, where she’s been since June.
“But I’ve since learnt that house sold two weeks ago so if it weren’t for this house [Ōwhata Kōhanga Rākau] I would have been back in emergency housing again.”
The Ōwhata Kōhanga Rākau rental homes range from one to four bedrooms, the kaumātua homes are two bedrooms and the homes to own range from three to four bedrooms.
Click here to apply for a home.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
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