Rangatahi Māori launch Generation Kāinga research programme

Pūrangakura is excited to announce new partnerships with rangatahi Māori organistations to launch a research programme called ‘Generation Kāinga: Rangatahi Building a Regenerative and Resilient Aotearoa’, funded by Endeavour - Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment.

In this kaupapa rangatahi project, Pūrangakura brings together six leading rangatahi Māori organistations to engage in this programme of research. A Kawenata (MOU) was signed to set out the kaupapa of collaboration between Pūrangakura and the rangatahi organisations. The six rangatahi-led partners are: ŌRUA, rangatahi leaders challenging the architectural industry to include more mātauranga Māori; Mā te Huruhuru provide housing and education to rangatahi in South Auckland and recently opened the first Kaupapa Māori transitional housing for homeless rangatahi; Te Mana Akonga is the national Māori student body; 4th Gen are descendants of Ngāti Kuri and focus on conservation mahi in the far north; Cuzzies i te Māra teach rangatahi to grow maara kai across Poneke; and Project Rangatahi are create pathways for rangatahi to undertake and lead kaupapa in Wairoa.

Six rangatahi partners sign Kawenata with Pūrangakura, 4 November 2023.

This week on Monday 4th December, members of Generation Kāinga team will gather at Pūrangakura to co-design and plan the build of an urban tiny home in Point Chevaier. The following day, Tuesday 5th December, the rangatahi partners will join the wider research team, made up of senior researchers, emerging researchers and rangatahi community researchers, to participate in a full day wānanga and begin the research proper.

In the current political climate, these rangatahi leaders are acutely aware of the importance of this work especially in light of the new government and the removal of the Maori housing and homelessness portfolios. The discontinuation of these integral portfolios means there is a significant risk that they will no longer be resourced. For rangatahi, this could result in an increase in youth homelessness and a decrease in Māori first home buyers. With rangatahi estimated to make up 70% of the Māori population by 2030, this could have dire implications on future generations of Māori.

Generation Kāinga begins from the premise that rangatahi are not a problem to be fixed but should be viewed instead as a site of strategic investment. This kaupapa rangatahi project aims to not only produce ground breaking, rangatahi led research but to also create a movement whereby rangatahi are mobilising in pursuit of innovative kāinga opportunities for mana motuhake.

Today, rangatahi Māori are a driving force in te reo Māori revitalisation, in the reclamation of cultural practices, and in the resistance of ongoing colonial oppression. They are activists mobilising political and social movements; entrepreneurs building unique pākihi Māori; and innovators deploying digital technologies to create impact. In the environmental space, rangatahi activism against climate change has made global headlines and rangatahi are actively taking charge of the future of their kāinga whenua.

Pūrangakura is an independent kaupapa Māori Research Centre based in Tāmaki Makaurau, led by Prof Jenny Lee-Morgan, Ngāhuia Eruera, Rau Hoskins and Eruera Lee-Morgan. Pūrangakaura is driven by people, research and kaupapa, with a number of large research projects spanning over various kaupapa, including housing related research, education, te reo and tikanga Māori.

Pūrangakura and rangatahi partners

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