Associate Minister of Housing (Homelessness) Marama Davidson has welcomed the release of two pūrākau reports telling the diverse and real life stories of whānau supported by Housing First.

“These two pūrākau reports provide powerful and insightful narratives from whānau who have experienced homelessness. A number of challenges as well as key areas of success were identified, and the learnings from the Pūrākau will assist Housing First providers in the work they do providing appropriate, secure housing and in-home support,” said Marama Davidson.

Pūrākau is the traditional and intergenerational method of sharing mātauranga (knowledge). They are stories that traditionally have a deeper message and are used to share knowledge of te ao Māori and to provide guidance.

“The two pūrākau; He oranga ngākau, he pikinga wairua and He whare kōrero o Mangatakitahi, recount the journey of two Housing First programmes in Ōtautahi Christchurch and Rotorua, and the whānau they support,” said Marama Davidson.

“The pūrākau of people engaged with Housing First has reinforced the value of taking a place-based approach with housing providers, iwi, local and national government working together to support whānau in their area.

“As the preface says Mā te rongo, ka mōhio, Mā te mōhio, ka mārama, Mā te mārama, ka mātau, Mā te mātau, ka ora; from listening comes knowledge, from knowledge comes understanding, from understanding comes wisdom, and from wisdom comes well-being,” said Marama Davidson.

Housing First is an internationally recognised programme that aims to house and provide on-going support services for people and whānau experiencing homelessness. The programme is funded by Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga – Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, who engaged Tīaho Limited, a kaupapa Māori research, evaluation and policy development group, to undertake the case study reports.

To protect the integrity of the pūrākau and the voices of those interviewed, no changes were made to the kōrero of the participants. The reports can be found here.

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