A Ngāti Awa-led housing initiative designed to help whānau towards home ownership has earned national recognition, with Tūkōkeke Kāinga Māori in Whakatāne named a finalist in the Social Impact category of the Infrastructure New Zealand Building Nations 2026 Impact Awards.
The awards recognise projects that have delivered outstanding social outcomes through collaboration with Māori, stakeholders and communities, celebrating initiatives that set new benchmarks for improving the wellbeing of New Zealanders.
The initiative is led by Te Tohu o Te Ora o Ngāti Awa, the iwi’s social and health services arm, working alongside whenua trusts to develop affordable housing and pathways towards home ownership for whānau.
Te Tohu o Te Ora o Ngāti Awa Te Pou Turuki Enid Ratahi-Pryor welcomed the national recognition.
“We’re excited, we’re humbled, we’re privileged to have been made a finalist in these awards. It was unexpected because it’s not a space that we’ve been in for some time.
“We knew the Tūkōkeke project that has actually been identified as a finalist was our first project. But obviously it’s one that’s seen to have the impact that this particular award requires. So we’re very, very proud to have Tūkōkeke chosen as a finalist.”
The recognition comes as the housing model continues to grow beyond its original papakāinga on Golf Links Road. In partnership with Kawarehe Trust, Te Tohu o Te Ora o Ngāti Awa is now developing a second papakāinga on Huna Road, beside the Paroa Rugby Club, where 16 affordable rental homes are due for completion in October. Stage Two of the Kawarehe development is already underway.
He aronga hōu mō Te Pahitauā
Tūkōkeke Kāinga Māori forms part of Te Pahitaua, Te Tohu o Te Ora o Ngāti Awa’s growing community hub on Golf Links Road. Named after a Ngāti Awa tipuna kuia, the papakāinga carries a deeper connection to the history of the whenua.
“Tūkōkeke was the hoa rangatira of our tipuna Irapeke. This site is the site of Irapeke where warriors would once upon a time gather to train for warfare.
“We’ve turned the page with Tūkōkeke. It’s actually about now bringing together whānau on this very important site and bringing Tūkōkeke pūrākau into another dimension. Once upon a time we had the dimension of warfare; now we have another dimension of wahine Tūkōkeke leading the way for whānau Māori to grow, aspire and achieve home ownership.”
While increasing the supply of warm, affordable homes is central to the project, Ratahi-Pryor said Tūkōkeke was deliberately designed to give whānau a pathway towards owning their own home. Whānau pay rents around 30 percent below market rates, allowing them to save towards a future house deposit while receiving financial support to help them achieve their housing goals.
“We need more affordable housing, we need rentals, we need social housing, so it meets a very specific need. Secondly, the proposal itself is actually about supporting whānau with a hand up. Tūkōkeke is about whānau moving in who aspire to own homes.”
Financial specialists work alongside participating whānau on budgeting and keeping their home ownership plans on track. “We discount not 20 percent but 30 percent of market rentals. That gives an opportunity for whānau to bank that difference as part of the deposit they will use for a home loan in the future.”
“It provides an opportunity for whānau to work with financial specialists who support them with budgeting, keeping on track with their housing goals and eventually moving into their own homes.”
But Ratahi-Pryor said the kaupapa extended beyond individual home ownership to recreating the sense of collective security traditionally associated with kāinga.
“It is about being able to own your own decisions, about being able to create your own pathway for your whānau. That’s what Tūkōkeke does, that’s also what safe, warm housing does.
“But it also means a community, having a safe community where your tamariki, your mokopuna can run around in an environment where everyone knows each other.”
For Ratahi-Pryor, restoring those connections was particularly important at a time when many families were facing increasing social and economic pressures. “It’s about getting back to the whole purpose of kāinga and the extended whānau and looking out for each other.
“Creating a safe environment fosters resilience, but more importantly it fosters opportunity. Giving our whānau an opportunity to aspire to great heights - that’s what Tūkōkeke is about.”
The benefits of that environment are already being felt by whānau living at Tūkōkeke. Ratahi-Pryor recalled one family who had previously been living in emergency accommodation, where a young child suffered severe asthma and required ongoing medication and GP care.
“Since being in one of our homes they’ve got a warm home now where the asthma has subsided and the mokopuna is healthy as.
“That’s what a warm home does, but it is also a promise of better things to come. It helps the hauora and the hinengaro, and that’s what’s actually needed for our whānau.”
Investing in whānau and whenua
The model is also designed so the benefits of housing development remain with the communities whose whenua supports it. Rather than Te Tohu o Te Ora o Ngāti Awa building its own property portfolio, Ratahi-Pryor said developments undertaken with Māori land trusts were structured to grow the asset base of those trusts. At Kawarehe, for example, the homes being developed on Huna Road will ultimately provide Kawarehe Trust with assets that can support further investment in its community.
“It’s not us as a community housing provider growing our asset base. It’s actually about growing the asset base of the local Māori trusts who put their hand up to want to house their whānau, support their whānau into affordable rentals, but more importantly to create an investment, a financial investment, that they can then turn around and support their community.
“It’s about sharing the opportunity of investment as well.”
The benefits are also being extended beyond the whānau who eventually occupy the homes. Social procurement is built into the Tūkōkeke model, with housing contracts used to create training, work experience and employment opportunities. Ratahi-Pryor said Te Tohu o Te Ora works alongside infrastructure companies, including Waiotahi Contractors, to connect participants in its employment programme with industry opportunities.
“Through them we’re able to procure opportunities for our young people and for those who are part of our project, Rukuhia te Mahi, to work alongside those providers, give them work experience and, in some instances like Waiotahi, give employment.
“Housing and employment opportunities together can contribute significantly to taking people out of poverty and putting them on a pathway towards independence.”
The winners of the Infrastructure New Zealand Building Nations 2026 Impact Awards will be announced at the Building Nations Gala Dinner on August 20.
Nā Mahina Perenara rāua ko Piripi Taylor nō Pūkāea.
