The Ōwhata Kōhanga Rākau housing development in Rotorua opens this weekend, led by the Ōwhata 2B & 7 Trusts to provide affordable homes for whānau connected to the whenua.
Built on leased Māori Freehold land with support from the Ministry of Housing and Kiwibank, the 93-home development includes options for purchase, kaumātua housing, and social rentals.
Chairman Jason Rogers says the Trust wanted to help whānau stay in Rotorua after seeing many enter emergency housing during and post-COVID.
He says while they couldn’t make all 93 homes affordable, 27 Māori whānau will now have the chance to own their own homes.
“So a lot of our whānau, yeah, they’ve got some deposits, and they’ve got, you know, good incomes, but there’s a big desire to buy homes on the whenua. So our shared ownership scheme, whānau will contribute 75% of the purchase price, and we’ll put in 25% so that’s, that’s a big helping hand,” says Rogers.
