Government planning and support for housing on Māori land follow-up article published

In September 2011, the Auditor-General published a report, Government planning and support for housing on Māori land Ngā whakatakotoranga kaupapa me te tautoko a te Kāwanatanga ki te hanga whare i runga i te whenua Māori. In that report, we looked at how effectively the government supported Māori seeking to build housing on Māori land.

We have published a follow-up article that looks at the progress in responding to the Auditor-General’s recommendations in our 2011 report. The article describes some of the activities that have been happening to increase housing on Māori land.

The article can be viewed on our website: http://www.oag.govt.nz/2014/housing-on-maori-land.

We found that progress has been steady and there has been some promising activity. For example, the release of the Māori Housing Strategy, and changes to the criteria for loans and grants for Māori and Māori organisations meaning more are being issued.

We also found that some local authorities are engaging more actively with Māori about how to improve the use of Māori land, and more sharing and learning between Māori and government organisations. The biggest challenges for Māori wishing to build on Māori land remains the lack of a single point of contact in each region, and the lack of a shared or co-ordinated process.

A genuine commitment to effective implementation of our recommendations and the Māori Housing Strategy is essential: a strategic plan is only as good as what you do to make it happen.

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