Ōpotiki College and Te Whakatōhea Trust Board are working together to develop house-building skills in the community in a project called Ringa Raupā.
About 30 college students and young adults have worked on building two homes that, on completion, will be used in Ōpotiki by Kainga Ora.
Ōpotiki has a great shortage of homes both for sale and rental.
Te Whakatōhea Trust Board’s Danny Paruru says he is overwhelmed by this project, which he sees as a Māori idea working for Māori, where Māori come in and learn how to build homes for Māori occupants in the region.
“Some of our people are living in makeshift huts, vans, and cars and that is why we are wanting to help to get our people into homes,” he says.
Ōpōtiki College technology teacher and Ringa Raupā supporter John Gilmour has seen a rise in achievements and attendance among the students at his school thanks to this building academy.
“Some of these students doing this were only attending school 60% last year and now they are up around the 90% mark because we have gone away from the books and they are learning by doing, which Māori are keen on,” Gilmour says.
Students get NCEA through building homes
Two groups of people are learning to build at the site, students from the college and mature adults. The nine students from Ōpōtiki College will gain both NCEA level 3 and a level 3 BCITO certificate.
Tyneal Kawana from Te Whakatōhea is one of the adults who has joined the course from a wielding background and loves being part of Ringa Raupā.
“I just like being in the environment of young people and working around them. They have so much potential and I would love to see another wahine, especially rangatahi, join a course like this.”
Kāinga Ora is supporting the project by providing approved designs for these builds, alongside supporting the start-up phase of the building academy, which will continue as the kaupapa develops and evolves.
“Kainga Ora is on board to be able to provide more homes for families, children and the elderly. That’s exactly what our people need right now”, Paruru says.
‘I want to build for my whanau’
Sovrin Moon from Ngāi Tūhoe has enjoyed his time learning how to build homes and never thought he would end up on a project like this but is thankful this will lead him into future employment.
“I love working in general, I love working with wood. I also want to learn how to build houses for my family.”
There continues to be a shortage of homes in Ōpotiki.
Last year it was documented that only 20 properties were for sale and two for rental.
Paruru hopes Ringa Raupā will close that gap.
“We want to look at building more homes, three or four perhaps. That is what I want but we Whakatōhea will speak to organisations and the government about a plan in the future for this initiative,” he says.
Both homes will be completed by the end of the year.
