A Tairawhiti Beneficiary Advocacy Trust spokeswoman said there were 215 people on the Housing New Zealand (HNZ) waiting list including 177 as (high) priority A.
Moira Brown, of Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust and Te Runanga o Turanganui a Kiwa, said those numbers had since increased.
One woman presented photographs of a Kaiti-based Housing New Zealand (HNZ) home, which she said had no insulation, was prone to flooding and had light appearing through the roof.
Ms Whaitiri said she would approach HNZ about the house.
The same woman said she took a reporter to a house several years ago where more than 30 people lived.
“She broke down in tears.”
Other people complained about empty HNZ sections not being used or houses not being tenanted.
It took too long to fix up houses formerly used to manufacturer methamphetamine.
Robyn Rauna, of Ngai Tamanuhiri, said people had to link their whakapapa to their whenua to establish papakainga in the Maori Land Court.
The Ngai Tamanuhiri Trust had acquired two former Housing New Zealand houses and a cool store for iwi housing. Its board had approved turning general land into papakainga and Maori freehold land.
Iwi wanted to be involved in housing but wanted a partner.
There was a role for the Government and for private companies.
Ms Brown said the runanga had run workshops on papakainga.
Plenty of messages to take back to GovernmentA big issue was getting the collective voice of whanau, she said.
Rongowhakaata was looking at building homes but needed to work with suppliers and builders.
Unlike other Turanga iwi and Ngati Porou, Rongowhakaata did not own forests.
The building materials industry was dominated by one or two organisations.
District council projects with completion dates scheduled for Tuia 250 ki Turanga commemorations in October made it difficult to get tradespeople.
Steve Breen, of Activate Tairawhiti, said building costs were 30 percent cheaper in Australia and 50 percent cheaper in the USA. There were three major costs to building a home — land, labour and material. Papakainga eliminated the cost of land.
Ms Whaitiri confirmed what messages she would take back to her colleagues. Those messages included —
More housing resources had to be devoted to Gisborne as waiting lists here were worse than in Napier and Hastings on a per capita basis.Housing stocks had to be increased as more people moved to the district although it was recognised there would always be a need for emergency housing.There were opportunities for stand-up homes, whether they were made of hemp or ”panelisation’’, or built traditionally’.Council compliance issues needed to be improved to help develop papakainga housing.More tradespeople were required.She planned to call back agencies and groups at the hui to help design a tailored response to present to the Government.
She was encouraged by the hui.
“Those working in housing are committed to working constructively with the Government to alleviate the situation. We need some co-ordination. The hui was a start.”
