12 December 2011

Community reluctantly say goodbye to Occupy Pomare

Members of the Pomare community have reluctantly vacated the site they had occupied for 20 days as a protest at Housing New Zealand’s failure to act on their housing concerns.

The Pomare Save Our Community group received a letter from Housing New Zealand indicating that the corporation is now willing to progress a relationship agreement that outlines the principles for engagement between the Corporation and the local community.

“We have had the first meeting with Housing New Zealand since the occupation and we were very pleased with their willingness to address some of our concerns” said community spokesperson Dina Awarau.

“Many of us felt sad to leave Occupy Pomare. Residents who had been relocated had enjoyed being back in the community atmosphere. When we packed up the camp it felt like our final goodbye” she said.

“This has been an extremely difficult year for Pomare. There are 6 more homes being demolished today. But our community remains strong and we will continue to support each other and give hope to other communities in similar situations” said Dina.

ENDS

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