For mum Kacey O’Carroll (Te Atiawa) moving into an affordable, newly-built home is an experience she will never forget. Along with her partner and young daughter, the whānau has moved into a new iwi-owned housing development in New Plymouth.
“Coming from a whare that was quite cold and the fact that the iwi can provide the whānau with homes to live in rather than us go through the mainstream ways, yeah, it’s really cool to be a part of that experience and that journey with the iwi.”
The Papapounamu housing development is part of a small block of land returned to iwi through a treaty settlement. Liana Poutu, chair of iwi authority Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa Trust, said it made sense to convert it into affordable homes for uri, or descendants, of the iwi.
“Ko te mea nui hoki ki o tātou nei uri i tēnei wa, nui rawa te utu kia rēhi i ngā whare, nā reira he mea nui ki a mātou kia whakapuāwai i tēnei hua.”
(For our uri, housing is a big issue, and rent is expensive, so it was important for us to produce this outcome.)
The development wa made up of two- and three-bedroom townhouses, and design elements reflected the local environment of native bush, the mountain and a nearby stream which inspired the name Papapounamu.
The development namewas also a reference to the whakataukī “ahakoa he iti he pounamu” (while small it is of great value), recognising not only the size of the site, but its proximity to a larger future development planned for across the road, according to the Ka Uruora website.
The current median rental price for New Plymouth Central was $578 per week, according to realestate.co.nz. Papapounamu was one street off Central and in neighbouring Westown where the median rental price was $620 per week.
Poutu said rent for tenants of Papapounamu factored income and circumstances.
“Nā te mea he whānau kei roto i ētehi, he tokorua kei roto i ētehi, nā reira he āhua rerekē, engari i raro i te kaupapa o affordable rental te tikanga.”
(There are whānau in some homes, and couples in others, so it’s different circumstances, but all come under an affordable rental agreement.)
She said the homes were a stable option for whānau for however long they wanted to live there.
That was great news for O’Carroll who said their daughter was last year iagnosed with autism and having a “really good space” meant they could focus on her journey.
Pathway to renting
O’Carroll said when she and her partner first entered the rental property market, they lucked out with their first home, applying and being offered a house within three weeks.
“But then through that journey you can see other people there and it’s just, you show up to a viewing and there’s 50 people already lined up out on the street. So that kind of determines right there, luck of the draw, if that makes sense?”
It was expensive getting into rentals and that’ was money some whānau didn’t have, she said.
“We were one of those whānau that didn’t have that [money] at that time, and so we were lucky that our whānau came together and helped us get into this rental.”
O’Carroll said she signed up with Ka Uruora, an iwi financial and housing scheme, and went through a financial literacy course where they learnt about managing money, home ownership and affordable renting. A year after graduating from the course, she received an email about the Papapounamu development.
“It was from Ka Uruora and they were like, ‘I’m happy to announce that you have been chosen to go through and be a part of this journey with us’, and here I am.”
Creating opportunities for uri
Poutu said building from the ground up and renting out homes to uri was a new venture for the iwi. Previously it had renovated homes for rental and sold land to uri to build their homes.
Poutu said the iwi firmly believed whānau deserved the opportunity to live in newly built homes.
“Ka tika kia whai mātou i ngā taumata tiketike i tēnei wā, kia kaua e whakaaro, o tātou nei whānau, kāore rātou e uru ki roto i ēnei momo whare. Engari ki a mātou nei, āe, ka tika, me hanga whare hou – ka uru mai i te whare hou me ngā taputapu hou katoa kei roto.”
(Of course we should aspire to provide these high-end level options for our people lest they think these kinds of homes are unattainable. We believe it’s only right that we build new houses, and for our people to have new homes and new appliances in them.)
Te Kotahitanga challenged its developers to work with uri-owned businesses and tradespeople throughout the build. Poutu said it was important that Te Atiawa uri be involved in the project.
“Ko te mahi toi, ko te mahi hiko, ērā atu mahi i tono atu ki ngā kamupene Māori, ngā pakihi Māori.”
(From artists to electricians, and so on, Māori companies and businesses were engaged to do the work.)
Whānau community, afford to save
O’Carroll said her whānau was looking forward to the added bonus of having other uri as their new neighbours – “Even if we go away, we’ve got people to watch our whare!” – with the social aspect a big plus, envisioning a communal living situation with weekend get togethers.
“The whānau that are going to be living next to [us], I grew up with a lot of them and, with life and with finances and that, you just fade a little bit. Now that we’re going to be next to each other it’s just going to kind of re-spark that cousin bond.”
Each of the eight houses were fitted with whiteware appliances and solar panels.
“We have estimated our monthly power bill to be around $50 rather than for some whānau it could be $200, could be more.”
Before moving into Papapounamu, O’Carroll and her partner had no savings and, while “not drowning in debt”, were paying some off. Now they were looking forward to getting “a few more money” to keep in their pocket.
O’Carroll said the whānau was saving towards a better future with the goal of eventually becoming homeowners.
