October 12, 2012
Tainui to clip ticket on state house sales
A Tainui economic development agency intends to on-sell surplus state houses if it can’t find tribe members to buy them.
Te Riu o Waikato is working with Kiwibank to teach people from the marae it represents and what they need to do to buy a home.
Chief Executive Ricky Maipi says on average Housing New Zealand puts about 10 surplus houses on the market every month, and Tainui has a first right of refusal.
He says the tribe has 30 days, and if its own people aren’t ready Te Riu can buy the houses, fix them up and put them on the open market.
Mr Maipi says with the Tainui settlement in which is almost 20 years old, there is pressure to find new ways to get some of the economic benefits spread more widely.