Building a new future
Changing the narrative on Māori housing includes recognising the success stories not getting media coverage, writes Lauren James.
Google the words “Māori housing” and the first site that pops up is Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Further down, you’ll find the work of government agencies. What you won’t see is the great work being undertaken across Aotearoa by whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori rōpū and the bespoke housing solutions for
Māori by Māori.
In many places, when the subject of Māori housing is raised, people automatically default to papakāinga or emergency and social housing. While we celebrate and acknowledge all the amazing mahi that happens in these spaces, we need to change the narrative.
At the recent biennial National Māori Housing Conference in Rotorua, speakers from across the motu talked on a range of topics, including the whakapapa of homelessness, Māori off-site manufacturing and Māori-inspired urban design and development. While this is welcome, we need more regular exposure of these sorts of issues.
When the spotlight is on Māori housing, it often focuses on problems. As a person who lives in Rotorua, I feel it’s a real pity that the great work of iwi in this town doesn’t get the attention it deserves.
While I understand that stories like our motel situation are what draw people’s interest, there are plenty of other stories, too. For example, there’s the work of Uenukukōpako and their papakāinga development, Ngāti Whakaue Tribal Lands and its affordable housing developments, and Rotorua Boys’ High School and its trade academy.
Changing the narrative on Māori housing is the responsibility of all of us. We need to hear more about the young families who, through iwi housing schemes, are moving into new builds, in a market where home ownership has been unattainable for so many. I am also keen to see what innovative housing and urban design practices will emerge as a response to the recent devastating floods.
I am confident that, as Māori have always done, we will turn crises into opportunities, and we will learn, grow and adapt to our surroundings. This is an integral part of our whakapapa. The reality for Māori is that we can’t wait for someone to do these things for us, we need to create the opportunities for ourselves.
There are real opportunities for considering new Māori housing narratives, while not ignoring the pressing issues that we continue to face. It is about finding a balanced picture of issues and solutions, as well as understanding our own value systems and standards.
This is important because it drives the narrative in relation to Māori housing. From our perspective, a house provides the structure, while a home is a place of love and connection – not only for the people who live there, but also with the environment that surrounds them.
The home I grew up in always housed various family members and friends. Our parents’ friends, a second cousin who became an aunty, sleeping on the floor with all my cousins and having to yell for everyone to turn so you could roll over – that was our norm.
We didn’t know it as overcrowding, and the idea of sleeping in a room by yourself was unfamiliar and scary. This is why a family of five in a threebedroom home would often leave one room empty; we were used to sleeping together.
The new housing narratives don’t need to provide a rationale for our reality. They just need to reflect our mentality of rolling up our sleeves and getting on with it, while continually looking for innovative and bespoke solutions.
We must create communities where our whānau can grow and flourish, where we determine the narrative because we have established our own standards and expectations. We must remember that we need to be good tūpuna by making mokopuna decisions; and to be of service to our people. The tomorrow we dream of is here. Tukua mai ki a piri, tukua mai ki a tata (let it come near, let it come close). ▮
Lauren James (Ngāti Whakaue, Te Arawa) was co-chair of the National Māori Housing Conference 2023.
We can’t wait for someone to do these things for us, we need to create opportunities for ourselves.