Kaingaroa community looks to a new future through housing project

  • Hon Nanaia Mahuta
Māori Development

Minister for Māori Development and Associate Minister of Housing Hon Nanaia Mahuta today visited the close-knit community of Kaingaroa Village to announce a $2.4 million investment in housing as part of the ongoing community development project in the region.  

Kaingaroa Forest Village is the sixth and final community project to join the Māori Housing Network Community Development programme. These Community Development projects recognise that no single intervention or entity can solve the increasingly complex problems that communities face.  

Te Puni Kōkiri has been working alongside the Bay of Plenty rōpū and they have worked hard to bring to fruition their community aspirations. 

Minister Mahuta says the whānau of Kaingaroa Village is a great example of a community that has a strong vision of growth and development despite the numerous challenges they have faced. 

“There is a school, marae, rental and privately-owned homes and community centres. But the community needs help to repair and revitalise these essential facilities.  

“I know Kaingaroa Village and their wider whānau are committed to regenerating their community and their commitment, effort and collaboration will see these dreams come to pass,“ Minister Mahuta says.  

This community development model will prioritise projects such as urgent housing repairs, an infrastructure upgrade of an oxidation pond for future papakāinga development, and delivery of the Sorted Kāinga Ora financial capability programme.  

“Feedback we have received from the Kaingaroa whānau shows this strong partnership between Te Puni Kōkiri, other government agencies and the Māori community is working. Whānau in this rohe now feel excited, inspired and have a hope for a prosperous future living in the Kaingaroa village. 

“Achieving healthy, secure and affordable housing can lead to transformational change for whānau and long term wellbeing,” says Nanaia Mahuta.

Editor’s note:  

  • Kaingaroa Village is the sixth and final community project to join the Māori Housing Network Community Development programme.
  • Video of project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoodNhdvBJc&feature=youtu.b
  • Kaingaroa Forest Village is a settlement of approximately 435 people of whom 98% are Māori.
  • The village is located in the Kaingaroa Forest between Rotorua and Taupō on the volcanic plateau of the Central North Island.
  • Kaingaroa Forest Village is situated on 98.5 hectares of land which up until 1987 was owned and operated by the NZ Forest Service.
  • In March 1987 the NZ Forest Service closed its business and surrendered its lease agreement of the village.
  • Through a parliamentary decision the land was returned to the tangata whenua – Ngāti Manawa.
  • The assets (houses, shops, workshops, school, kōhanga reo, marae, complex building, Nissan Hall, Kindy Play Centre) were transferred to the Kaingaroa Papakāinga Trust under a license to occupy arrangement with Ngāti Manawa.  

He rā hou kei te pae mā te hapori o Kaingaroa, nā te kaupapa whare

I tatū atu te Minita Whanaketanga Māori, Minita Whare Āwhina hoki, te Hōnore Nanaia Mahuta ki te iwi hapori o te kāinga o Kaingaroa i te rangi nei ki te pānui i te whakawhiwhinga o te pūtea $2.4 miriona tāra ki ngā whare hei wāhanga o te kaupapa whakawhanake hapori haere tonu, haere tonu, haere ake nei i te rohe.

Ko Kaingaroa te tuaono, te kaupapa hapori whakamutunga hoki ki te whai wāhi ki te Whakawhanaketanga Hapori Aka Whare Māori. Kua mātau ēnei kaupapa Whakawhanake Hapori kāore e taea e te whakataunga, te hinonga rānei me tōna kotahi te kite te rongoā ki ngā raruraru whīwhiwhi, matatini kei te aroaro tonu o ngā hapori.

Kua mahi Te Puni Kōkiri i te taha o te rōpū o Te Moananui a Toi, kua whakapau werawera hoki rātou kia hua mai ai ngā whakangākau o tō rātou hapori.

E kīia ana e Minita Mahuta kātahi te tauira pai ko te whānau o Kaingaroa, o te hapori me tōna tirohanga pakari o te tipu me te whanaketanga ahakoa te nui o ngā wero i mua i a rātou.

“He kura i reira, he marae, he whare rīhi, he mea hoko hoki, me ngā pokapū hapori. Heoi anō kei te hiahia āwhina ināianei te hapori ki te whakatika me te whakarauora i ēnei wāhi mātuatua.

“Mōhio kē au, kaingākaute iwi o Kaingaroa me te whānau whānui ki te whakarauora ake i tō rātou hapori , ka mutu, tō rātou kaingākau, whakapau kaha, mahi tahi hoki ki te kite i te whakatinanatanga o ēnei wawata,” tā Minita Mahuta.

Ko tā te tauira whanaketanga hapori he whakarite i ngā kaupapa pēnā i te whakatika whare e tino matea ana, te whakahoutanga o te hanganga o tētahi repo hau o tētahi whanaketanga papakāinga hei ngā rā e tū mai nei me e whiwhinga o te kaupapa pūkenga ā-pūtea o Sorted Kāinga Ora.

“I whakaaturia e ngā urupare i whakahokia mai e te whānau o Kaingaroa, e whai kiko ana tēnei hononga tino pakari i waenga i Te Puni Kōkiri, i ētahi atu tari kāwanatanga me te hapori. He hiamo, he whakaawe katoa ināianei ngā whānau e tiro whakamua ana ki te noho oranga tonutanga ki Kaingaroa.

“Te whiwhinga i ngā whare hauora, haumaru, iti te utu hoki he panonitanga ao tērā mā te whānau me tō rātou oranga tonutanga,” te kī a Nanaia Mahuta.

Taipitopito nā te etita:

  • Ko Kaingaroa te tuaono me kaupapa whakamutunga o te hapori ki te whai wāhi ki te Whakawhanaketanga Hapori Aka Whare Māori.
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoodNhdvBJc&feature=youtu.be
  • He kāinga te Kaingaroa o te āhua 435 tāngata, he Māori te 98 ōrau.
  • Kei te Ngahere o Kaingaroa te kīanga i waenga i Rotorua me Taupō i runga i te mānia ahi tipua o te Puku o te Ika.
  • Kei runga te kāinga o Kaingaroa i te 98.5 heketea, nā te Ratonga ngahere o Aotearoa i mua i te tau 1987, nā rātou hoki i whakahaere.
  • I te marama o Poutūterangi 1987 i katia e te Ratonga ngahere o Aotearoa tā rātou pakihi, i hoatu hoki te rīhi ki te kāinga o Kaingaroa.
  • Nā runga i te whakahau o te whare pāremata i whakahokia te whenua ki te tangata whenua – Ngāti Manawa.

I whakawhitia ngā rawa (ngā whare, toa, wāhi mahi, kura, kōhanga reo, ngā whare o te marae, te Hōro Nissan, te Ware Kōhungahunga) ki te Kaingaroa Papakāinga Trust i raro i te whakaritenga me Ngāti Manawa o te raihana noho.