Lewis Ratapu of Tātau Tātau o te Wairoa is excited by the plans. Photo: RNZ/Tom Kitchin
An iwi group in Wairoa has come up with what it's calling an innovative kaupapa Māori way to help solve the town's housing crisis.
With a shortage of resthome care, the iwi is building a kaumātua village that might look a bit different from an ordinary neighbourhood.
It's just one of a number of initiatives locals hope will make dealing with housing less stressful.
Wairoa, in northern Hawke's Bay, needs more houses - 150 of them right now and possibly up to 500 in 10 years' time as the population grows.
Wairoa district is home to about 9,000 people and about 70 per cent are Māori. Photo: RNZ/Tom Kitchin
It has one of the highest social housing waitlists per head of population in the country.
Adding to the pressure are house prices which have shot up, often at some of the highest rates in the country, and the average price has more than doubled in the past three years, from $145,000 to $380,000.
Tātau Tātau o te Wairoa is the post-Treaty settlement governance entity for Wairoa.
General manager Lewis Ratapu said the entity was planning to build over 50 homes on a grassy field across the road from the town's hospital.
"It's just under 3 hectares. We've got plans to build 56 homes. In the middle of the community we're going to have a 13-bed supported community facility for kaumātua."
Around that facility will be homes for whānau.
The project embraces whanaungatanga, family connection or kinship, and would avoid the elderly being separated in resthomes from their community.
"It's got the intergenerational interaction - it's got kaumātua with families and kids in the same community. It's a real whānau ora approach," Ratapu said.
Wairoa's housing strategy co-ordinator Melissa Kaimoana. Photo: RNZ / Tom Kitchin
Tātau Tātau is in negotiations with the government for the millions of dollars needed to start building.
Agencies in the small town also recently got just shy of a million dollars from the Government to develop a housing hub - a one stop shop for advice and help.
The aim is to get people out of emergency housing into home ownership.
Wairoa's housing strategy co-ordinator Melissa Kaimoana said there was urgent need.
"Whānau are telling us that they're living in overcrowded homes, or homes that are in need of critical repair - they're cold and unhealthy."
The hub would also help whānau with home repairs and maintenance.
A look at what Tātau Tātau's village could look like. Photo: RNZ/Tom Kitchin
Also on the wish list was more papakāinga - developments on Māori land. There is currently only one in the Wairoa area.
Despite this, Wairoa mayor Craig Little thought the government's state housing arm was doing enough for the town.
"Kāinga Ora have been pretty slack, they've promised us a lot of stuff and then they seem to have changed, moved the goal posts," he said.
But Kāinga Ora said it was working with a developer on a site in Wairoa that would see more than 20 homes built
It had to say no to some private developments that did not meet its requirements.
