Don't Forget Maori Housing

New Zealand First has called for the Housing Minister to take a new look at the old Maori Affairs Housing Scheme to ease the looming housing crisis among Maori.

“Unless urgent action is taken, the impending baby-boomers housing crisis will impact on Maori more than any other group,” said Maori Affairs spokesperson Pita Paraone.

“Maori have always been less likely to own their own homes than non-Maori and this, combined with current conditions that make home ownership harder to attain than ever before, means that Maori are facing a calamitous situation.

“At a time in their lives when security is increasingly important, insecurity will be the unfortunate reality for many.

“Innovation is what is required, and if that means learning from the relative successes of past programmes, then let’s do that,” said Mr Paraone.

“For all its shortcomings, the old Maori Affairs Department helped a lot of Maori into their own homes. Under the Maori Affairs Housing Scheme, Maori were assisted into home ownership with loans. At least 200 homes were made available each year for this purpose.
”I would suggest to the Minister that as he develops a new housing strategy to address this approaching disaster, that consideration be given implementing a programme such as the Maori Affairs Housing Scheme,” said Mr Paraone.

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