Helping Get Māori Into A Home Of Their Own

Kia mau ki te tokanga nui a noho – There’s no place like home!

From 1 September 2024, Te Maru Mihinare – Anglican Financial Care (AFC) has kicked off its lending for housing on Māori land.

As a registered Financial Services Provider, AFC has been offering mortgage lending to its clients for 50 years. Now, after several years’ working on the necessary legal arrangements, AFC is expanding its lending to eligible people to build, relocate, or repair a house on Māori land.

“We are very excited to be able to contribute in a meaningful way to alleviating housing needs for those who can live on their ancestral lands, but had not been able to borrow the money necessary to build or relocate a house there”, said The Rev’d Lawrence Kimberley, Chair of the AFC Board. “Up until now there have been very few options for Māori to access loans to build or buy a house to go on their whenua. Now, our eligible clients can come to us for the funds.”

This new lending stream is open to Anglican clergy, widows / widowers of Anglican clergy, employees and other workers of Anglican organisations, members of the Christian KiwiSaver Scheme and members of AFC’s The Retire Fund. To apply for one of these loans, they need the right to live on the Māori land. For example, if they hold a license to occupy from the landowner.

AFC will lend up to 90% of the purchase price (including relocation costs if applicable) of the house. The maximum term of a loan is 25 years. “As a responsible lender, we must ensure our clients meet our lending conditions and the affordability requirements. But we are sympathetic and we strike a good balance between protecting AFC’s lending assets and meeting our clients’ needs,” said AFC’s Chief Executive Margaret Bearsley.

Bearsley explained that, instead of offering a mortgage over the land, AFC takes security over the house. The security interest is recorded on the Personal Property Securities Register. She also explained that the reason for the delay in offering this type of lending, was the legal arrangements. This is not just any type of Māori land that this lending works for. The Māori land must be freehold and owned and managed by an administration structure under Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 (such as an ahu whenua trust or a Māori incorporation). AFC cannot provide a loan for a house on land held by multiple individual owners. Amongst the lending documents that a borrower will have to sign is a Whenua Māori Housing Agreement. This sets out the terms on which AFC will offer the loan, and it must be signed by AFC (as lender), by the borrower, and by the landowner.

“We are hoping this will be the game-changer that many of our clergy and their families need to finally get into a home of their own. And what better place than the whenua of their own people!” said The Rev’d Lawrence Kimberley.

Anglican clergy, clergy widows/widowers, church workers and members of AFC’s other schemes can email admin@angfincare.nz. More information is on AFC’s website angfincare.nz.

Anglican Financial Care is a charitable trust board, established in 1972 by the Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia.

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