Hon Willie Jackson

Te Minita Whanaketanga Māori

Minister for Māori Development

An innovative Papakāinga development project supporting low to median income Māori whānau towards home ownership, is set to break ground in the Chatham Islands today.

Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson said, the step towards addressing complex housing issues on the island will host five new homes by the middle of this year.

Te Puni Kōkiri is investing $974,760 towards the retained equity in the houses through its Te Ara Mauwhare initiative. In addition, $100,000 is funded by Sorted Kainga Ora and whānau navigation support, other whānau on the Islands.

“I mihi to the whānau who will live on the papakāinga, who have just completed the Sorted Kainga Ora programme. They are putting their best foot forward by doing these courses to build their financial skills and prepare for home ownership.”

The houses are being built offshore and will arrive by barge by mid-year. The ceremony marks the start of work on infrastructure and site works that are needed before the houses arrive.

“Building houses on the Chatham Islands (Rēkohu/Wharekauri) is difficult logistically and made even harder because banks don’t readily lend there. Plus it costs $100,000 more to build a house there, than it would to build on mainland New Zealand,” Minister Jackson said.

The papakāinga development is part of a $9m investment into innovative models that will support whānau Māori into home ownership. Six trials are underway across New Zealand, which will develop approximately 70 new homes for whānau to purchase under rent-to-own and shared ownership models.

The homes are being built as the first stage of the Sandstones papakāinga, thanks to a bespoke rent-to-buy model that recognises that bank finance is not readily available on the Island. Whānau are expected to achieve ownership within 10 to 20 years. The homes are being built on land gifted to Chatham Islands Housing Partnership Trust by the Chatham Islands Enterprise Trust.

The CIHPT was established by the two Chatham Islands iwi/imi (Ngāti Mutunga o Wharekauri and Hokotehi Moriori Trust), Chatham Islands Enterprise Trust and Chatham Islands Council.

In November 2019, three Te Puni Kōkiri funded emergency/transitional homes built on Wharekauri were opened by Minister Henare, Minister for Whānau Ora. Te Puni Kōkiri has also been active with housing repairs and individual infrastructure grants on the Chatham Islands.

Budget 2017 provided $9 million over the four years (2017-2021) to support a range of trials of using different progressive home ownership models. The Chatham Islands development is part of that overall investment.

In 2015, the Government, as part of a partnership, invested $2 million into CIHPT, from the then Māori Housing Fund as a seed capital investment.

The CIHPT applied for Te Ara Mauwhare support, making the case that access to finance, pathways to home ownership and housing supply on the Chatham Islands is a serious challenge. The proposal was for co-investment – some Te Ara Mauwhare support and some CIHPT investment.

Context of Progressive Home Ownership

· Government announced in 2019 that a $400m Progressive Home Ownership (PHO) Fund would be established at Ministry for Housing and Urban Development, and would target Māori, Pasifika, and whānau/households with children.

· Te Puni Kōkiri has focused on transferring the learnings from the Te Ara Mauwhare trials into the design of the PHO Fund and the experience from this and the other Te Ara Mauwhare trials will be evaluated and fed into the PHO design.

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