This article was first published on RNZ.
A Māori housing project in Hawke’s Bay wants to see the same model rolled out nationwide to help people afford their own homes and benefit from a community environment.
Puke Aute papakāinga is in Te Hauke, about 20 minutes south of Hastings in Hawke’s Bay, and has been built on ancestral Māori land and received funding through government-backed Māori housing initiatives such as Te Puni Kōkiri.
The village of 10 brand new homes is no ordinary housing development, with vege gardens, lambs, chickens and pigs.
Some people rent the houses, some buy them, and others rent to buy - but the land the whare sit on can never be sold.
Zack Makaore is the driving force of the project, which has been a 30-year dream for his people.
“There are some wins out of this whole thing, it’s not perfect, but our whānau have been able to save some money because the rent isn’t so high.
“They’ve saved to purchase their homes in the next five years, or to purchase a house somewhere else and other family moves in here,” Makaore said.
He explained that the papakāinga is based on five pou, or principles. Those are politics and local government involvement, looking after the environment, growing economic opportunities, helping others in society, and building a positive culture around manaakitanga.
“We’re also standing up to having no gang patches on site and no one on methamphetamine - just a culture of people going to work, going to training, and kids thriving in school,” Makaore said.
For Puke Aute resident Vivienne Duxfield it’s been an eye opening experience, renting a home at the papakāinga.
“It’s a wonderful place, it’s a place of connection with my whakapapa - my mother lived here before me and this land belonged to our family.
“I’ve learned more about the culture because I wasn’t raised with the Māori culture at all, and so for me there is a coming home in that way too,” she said.
The pensioner is loving the community aspect of living in the papakāinga, and the sharing of knowledge and skills.
“I get involved in any way that I can, I take the children with me to feed the lambs - we have a lot of fun because I don’t have grandchildren and here I have many grandchildren and it’s wonderful,” she laughs.
As one of the only people living at Puke Aute who isn’t working, Duxfield has taken responsibility for raising the village’s lambs.
“I’m a total novice - oh my goodness it’s been a roller coaster and I now have become fairly knowledgeable on the subject.”
The community is still taking shape, but she said everyone was feeling positive about the direction they were taking.
“There is a lot of work to keep a place like this running and it’s hard to achieve, but it’s really important and we’re beginning to develop a way of life,” Duxfield said.
Makaore said the village mentality was one he would love to see replicated around Aotearoa.
“Why can’t we do it for all New Zealanders - you know, little villages - thousands of villages where we all work together and everyone feels comfortable in what they do and how they do it.
“I think we are in a great position right now with the downturn in the economy. It’s a good time to transition some of this thought into housing for ourselves,” he said.
“We need papakāinga for the rest of country, not Housing New Zealand stuff, but people thinking about living in a community where everybody is working together as opposed to state housing.”
Makaore has a long history of helping many people in many different ways, he founded the Te Taitimu Trust in 2007 after losing his son to suicide 25 years ago. The trust helps hundreds of rangatahi build their self-confidence by participating in local Hawke’s Bay camps at nearby beaches and rivers.
The papakāinga is part of that mahi, and has a strong focus on mental wellbeing.
“We’ve been able to help others through that grief. It’s about supporting people and whānau, we want to be part of that thinking around a little village,” he said.
By Alexa Cook of RNZ.
