7 October 2011

Need to boost Māori housing initiatives gains new voice

With the formal establishment this week of the Te Matapihi - He Tirohanga Mo Te Iwi Trust a new voice has arrived to take up the challenge of backing the need to boost Māori housing initiatives in order to meet current and future housing needs.

Te Matapihi has arisen from the National Māori Housing Conference held at Te Papaiouru Marae in Rotorua in March 2010, and a Wananga held at Mataatua Marae, Mangere in May of this year.

Trust spokesperson Rau Hoskins says that one of the primary objects of the Trust is to promote a supportive process for the development of practical housing strategies for Māori and their communities.

“We believe the publication of a Government audit of housing on Māori land by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) last month has provided a good summary of the stalled situation and the lack of effective leadership, action and support that is holding back development.

“The recommendations that have been made by the OAG are very similar to the call to action made by last year’s National Māori Housing Conference and that Te Matapihi want to see taken forward – such as a call for more flexibility by local authorities in removing barriers to housing on Māori land, and a call for unified coordination by central government agencies to enable more housing to be built in local communities.

“By working closely with agencies such as the Department of Building and Housing and the new Social Housing Unit, we expect Te Matapihi can become a helpful catalyst for furthering these kinds of changes,” says Te Matapihi spokesperson Rau Hoskins.

“We believe Te Matapihi can promote change by being a channel for better informing our communities about the success stories that are happening in places like the Western Bay of Plenty. We also believe there is a place for Te Matapihi as a facilitator of new initiatives that will see more Māori whanau in housing that they will actually own on their whanau whenua.

“As stated by Māori Party co-leader Tariana Turia every bit of progress that can be made on housing issues for Māori will go a long way to building whanau ora for future generations”.

ENDS

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