March 14, 2022
Māori forests approved for housing timber
A Māori housing advocate says it’s time to disrupt the model for building.
Willie Te Aho has been developing housing around Raukōkore and the East Cape, moving prefabricated homes from Huntly.
But he says the building materials crisis and Covid-related delays are slowing down supply, and he wants to move the prefabricating close to the job, using local timber.
“We’ve got two forests, one where I am here at Raukōkore and another in Waipaoa 3B at the back of Tūranga-Gisborne. We will be taking sawmilling operations into both of those forests to create more wood. We need about 900 tonnes from each forest and that will create the 150-plus houses we need,” he says.
Mr Te Aho says excellent support from Māori ministers Peeni Henare and Willie Jackson means the MAIHI Māori housing programme is starting to develop momentum.