June 02, 2022
Tamariki first in social housing plan
A far north social entrepreneur wants to try tamariki-first housing.
Ricky Houghton from He Korowai Trust has just started infrastructure development for another 24 homes on a site near Kaitaia, adding to 16 dwellings built over the past two years.
They’re part of a vision in which whānau are moved from emergency housing to rental and eventually to homeownership.
He wants to put six of the latest homes in the name of tamariki in state care who have been taken out of the far north.
“We’re going to hold the houses in trust for the kids and so (when) the youngest one is 18 we are going to give the houses to the babies so they are never ever be asked to leave their homes because of their parent’s behaviour. If anything, they will be able to determine if they want their parents to live with them and are for them and love them,” Mr Houghton says.
He Korowai is also successfully using a home and income model, where not only is a house put onto a Māori land block but also a crop like maize or Māori potatoes some other form of economic development.