Marae-based housing brings whanau rent relief
Taylor Tuhaka says living in a new apartment at Christchurch’s Rehua Marae will help her save money and give her daughters an understanding of their Ma¯ ori culture.
‘‘I was not fortunate enough to have this opportunity, to grow up within these environments, so I just saw it as an opportunity for my children.’’
Tuhaka will move into one of six new Te Koti Te Rato apartments in a redeveloped building that was once a hostel for Ma¯ ori trades training students.
The $3.3 million papaka¯ inga development in St Albans was opened by Ma¯ ori Development Minister Willie Jackson yesterday after 10 years of planning.
The repurposed building included two 2-bedroom units, two 1-bedroom units and two 1-bed studios, with wraparound services offered from common areas on the ground floor, including a wha¯ nau room, nurses’ clinic, rongoa¯ (traditional healthcare) services and the marae office.
Tuhaka said living at Te Koti Te Rato would provide more affordable and healthy housing for her wha¯ nau.
Tenants would pay 70 per cent of the market rate in rent.
‘‘Rental prices are so extreme. I lost my job to Covid, so it just got hard.’’
Tuhaka, a beauty therapist by trade,
was working as an administrator at a backpackers hostel when the borders were closed.
Her current rental was an older house with single glazing, and she had to run a dehumidifier all the time in winter to keep on top of condensation as her daughter had asthma.
There was little left over after paying her $380 weekly rent and living costs.
‘‘You see the total amounts [of rent] . . . and you think I could have paid that on my own house.’’
Papaka¯ inga housing developments provided a cluster of homes in a community setting, supporting tikanga
Ma¯ ori values, often located next to a marae.
Te Puni Ko¯ kiri, the Ministry of Ma¯ ori Development, committed $2.4m to the Te Koti Te Rato project.
Jackson said more papaka¯ inga housing was being planned around the country.
A 2018 study by the University of Otago found the rate of severe housing deprivation for Ma¯ ori was close to four times greater than for European New Zealanders.
The former Rehua Marae hostel opened in 1966 and provided accommodation for young men and women who came to Christchurch to learn to be painters, mechanics, carpenters, joiners, chefs, and hairdressers.
Former hostel ‘‘Old Boys’’ Ash Leatherby and Hori Poi attended the opening of the new apartments and shared fond memories of their year at the hostel.
‘‘As a 17-year-old boy I was pleased to leave home, but I found another home,’’ Leatherby said.
Te Whatu Manawa Ma¯ oritanga o Rehua Trust chair David Ormsby said the development aimed to bring more wha¯ nau back to the marae to live.
‘‘This style of living will allow wha¯ nau to be on urban marae grounds and engage in a wide variety of marae activities,’’ Ormsby said.
Rehua Trust treasurer Andre Thompson said: ‘‘You’re in a pure Ma¯ oritanga environment here, and that’s the difference between papaka¯ inga housing and just living in a house on an ordinary street.’’