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August 27, 2018
Kainga Whenua: Clayton’s housing programme, It’s there but it’s not there
Waatea Team
Posted On August 27, 2018
A far north social entrepreneur says the previous Government’s Kainga Whenua scheme for Māori housing has been an abject failure and needs replacing.
Ricky Houghton from He Korowai Trust is welcoming the announcement 110 new public housing places in Northland, as well as 70 additional homes to be created through partnerships with community housing providers, developers, councils and others.
He says there still need to be a targeted strategies to tackle the record low level of Māori home ownership.
Kainga Whenua, which guaranteed mortgages for houses on multiply-owned Māori land, didn’t work because the lenders still had to satisfy usual banking criteria.
Mr Houghton says most whānau that needed the homes didn’t qualify because they had poor credit history.
"It’s a bit of a facade. It implies there is a product there for Māori housing when in fact there isn't. It's a Clayton's Māori housing product. It's there but it's not there because no one can access it," he says.
He Korowai Trust has developed housing with innovative loan packages and houses moved to Kaitaia, and it is also involved in upgrading existing rural homes and fighting for whanau under threat of mortgagee sale.
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