Māori Party shines a light on housing problems faced by Māori

The Māori Party is highlighting the plight still faced by tāngata whenua, who continue to be discriminated against when it comes to trying to own or rent a home.

Its message has been prompted by the wake of information suggesting people with Asian sounding surnames are buying a large portion of Auckland properties.

“These types of campaigns are exactly what Māori communities have been faced with for decades. It is never ok to discriminate against any person because of their race”, says Māori Party Co-leader, Marama Fox.

One of the latest studies, “Looking Māori Predicts Decreased Rates of Home Ownership Institutional Racism in Housing Based on Perceived Appearance”, suggested that there is wide spread institutional racism faced by tāngata whenua.

561 people who said they were Māori participated in the 2015 research.

“The researchers acknowledged bias in home ownership for Māori, who looked Māori. They concluded that there was a practice in which the banking industry prevented tāngata whenua accessing finance”, says Co-leader, Te Ururoa Flavell.

Mr Flavell says the Māori Party wants to curb this kind of behaviour.

“In Rotorua alone, I’ve seen the plight of racism towards Māori. My office there helps three to four whānau a week with rental housing problems, including helping them to find out why they missed out on a home as well as informing them about their rights to rent”, he says.

“We are absolutely committed to making positive changes to advance housing opportunities for tāngata whenua, says Marama Fox.

ENDS

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