#national: Housing System Failing Māori and Pacific Whānau, Experts Warn

Housing in Aotearoa is increasingly failing to meet the cultural, social and economic realities of Māori and Pacific families, according to leading researchers at the University of Auckland.

Professor Deidre Brown and Dr Karamia Müller, directors of the Māori and Pacific Housing Research Centre MĀPIHI at University of Auckland, say the country’s housing system is structurally misaligned with the needs of large, intergenerational whānau.

Home ownership statistics highlight the scale of inequity. In 2023, only 16.8 percent of Pacific people and 27.5 percent of Māori owned their own homes, compared with a national average of 66 percent.

Rapidly escalating house prices have pushed ownership further out of reach for many Māori and Pacific families. Urban gentrification has compounded the pressure, particularly in Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Northland, Oamaru and parts of the South Island, where affordability constraints are intensifying.

In some regions, housing shortages intersect with rising homelessness and an urgent need for expanded social housing. In others, innovative pathways to ownership are lacking, leaving families with limited options.

Brown and Müller argue that most housing stock in New Zealand has been designed around small nuclear family models. That framework does not reflect the lived realities of many Māori and Pacific households, where multiple generations often choose to live together.

Intergenerational living is described as mana-enhancing and culturally resilient. It supports shared caregiving, financial cooperation and the strengthening of whakapapa connections. Yet most existing homes lack the flexibility to accommodate larger family groupings.

Design limitations include insufficient bedrooms, absence of multiple kitchens, limited shared spaces and lack of adaptability for extended stays by wider whānau. Brown suggests that in many cases one well-designed larger home may be more affordable and culturally appropriate than two or three smaller dwellings.

The researchers contend that transformational change is needed in how homes are conceived, built and regulated.

For Pacific families, housing challenges extend beyond internal layout. Müller emphasises that the way buildings connect with the environment is central to wellbeing. Placement, orientation and relationship to land and community can either enhance or undermine cultural identity.

The built environment, she argues, should reflect the values and social patterns of those who inhabit it. Yet historically, most architecture in Aotearoa has reflected predominantly Pākehā design traditions.

Māori and Pacific design elements have only gained wider visibility in mainstream architecture over the past 15 years. Previously, cultural references in public buildings were often limited to symbolic gestures rather than embedded design principles.

Brown, who identifies as Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahu, says the discipline of Māori architecture barely existed formally when she began her postgraduate studies. She now sees a contemporary movement emerging that seeks to embed Māori and Pacific values more deeply in the built environment.

Through the University’s School of Architecture and Planning, students are being trained in place-based design, drawing on local communities, whenua and cultural narratives to inform architectural outcomes.

The researchers argue that Māori and Pacific design is not niche or optional. It contributes to a broader New Zealand identity rooted in the Pacific and shaped by centuries of Māori knowledge.

Māori design traditions reflect relationships with nature, land use patterns and collective living structures developed over nearly a millennium. Incorporating these principles into contemporary housing affirms identity and strengthens belonging.

Müller also points to the increasing globalisation of building materials and construction systems. As more components are imported, she argues it becomes even more important that the conceptual design of buildings reflects local cultural identity.

The built environment is described as a mirror of who society is and what it values. When housing fails to reflect the lived realities of Māori and Pacific families, it reinforces exclusion rather than belonging.

The message from MĀPIHI is clear: incremental adjustments will not resolve structural misalignment. Meeting the needs of Māori and Pacific communities requires flexible housing models, expanded social housing supply, innovative ownership pathways and architectural design that centres intergenerational living.

Without systemic reform, the ownership gap is likely to widen, and housing pressures will continue to disproportionately affect Māori and Pacific whānau.

For Aotearoa, the challenge is not only economic but cultural. Housing policy and design must evolve to reflect the diverse ways families live, connect and thrive – ensuring that the places people call home strengthen identity rather than constrain it.

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