He Whare Āhuru He Oranga Tāngata Māori Housing Strategy launched

Associate Minister of Housing Tariana Turia launched “He Whare Āhuru He Oranga Tāngata – The Māori Housing Strategy in Kaitaia today. The plan reflects the Government’s desire for a long-term strategy to improve Māori housing and respond to the housing aspirations of whānau, hapū and iwi.

“Māori, more than other New Zealanders are affected by overcrowding, substandard housing and low levels of home ownership. We want to turn this around and with a strategy that clearly sets out where we are now, where we want be in the future and how we plan to achieve better housing for Māori whānau,” says Minister Turia.

“We know that meaningful change takes time, so this new strategy sets six directions which are like sign posts to the areas where we want to see improvement over the next 10 years. Three of the directions are focused on Māori and their whānau and three are directed at Māori organisations that want to get involved in housing.”

“He Whare Āhuru has been developed at a time when new opportunities are emerging for Māori organisations to play a greater role in housing. The Government’s social housing reforms, the right of first refusal over surplus land as a result of Treaty settlements and the transfer of Housing New Zealand homes to community housing providers all create opportunities for Māori to develop housing that will better meet their needs,” says Mrs Turia.

“We want to see more Māori organisations involved in building houses, managing rental tenancies, providing affordable rentals and developing home ownership programmes for Māori whānau.”

“He Whare Āhuru reflects the desire of Māori for tino rangatiratanga because it is about providing pathways from inter-generational dependence to independence and ensuring that iwi, hapū and whānau can acquire warm, safe and dry housing so they can flourish in their community wherever that might be,” says Mrs Turia.

For more information go to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment website

http://www.mbie.govt.nz/what-we-do/housing/pdf-document-library/strategy.pdf

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