September 30, 2022
Waimana housing talk offered
Associate Housing Minister Peeni Henare says he’s willing to meet with whanau in Waimana whose housing plans have been upended by their post-settlement governance entity.
Whanau from Te Waimana Kaaku traveled to Wellington this week to express their anger and frustration over a Government decision last year to withdraw support for an affordable housing plan, after some of them had already paid deposits.
The plan failed to get the approval of Tuhoe post settlement governance entity Te Uru Taumatua, which insists any government funding goes through it.
Mr Henare says it’s hard to think of all issues that may come up in future when settlements are done.
“If you think that 2013 was when that settlement was concluded, nine years later and maybe the landscape has shifted a bit but it is a challenge with respect to the politic in that rohe, I’m not going to play into that politic, that’s not my role, but my role is to continue to meet with whanau and make sure we do our best to support Maori housing aspirations,” he says.
The new engagement protocols in which crown agencies agreed to work exclusively through Te Uru Taumatua were only approved last year, and Te Waimana Kaaku says there is no way hapū or marae would have agreed if they had seen them.