Kaikarakia Morehu Pewhairangi sits among people from Kāinga Ora, its partners, police and others after blessing three new whare on Kowhai St in Te Hapara, Gisborne. Photo / Luke Fisher
Kaikarakia Morehu Pewhairangi sits among people from Kāinga Ora, its partners, police and others after blessing three new whare on Kowhai St in Te Hapara, Gisborne. Photo / Luke Fisher
It was an overcast morning in Gisborne on Wednesday, but the mood on a Te Hapara street was far from gloomy.
Around a dozen people, including representatives from Kāinga Ora and police, gathered to bless the three new social whare on Kowhai St.
Led by kaikarakia Morehu Pewhairangi, aprocession walked through the rooms of each house, running their hands across the walls and instilling aroha in every corner.
Kāinga Ora community development and engagement manager Theo Akroyd told the Gisborne Herald the blessings instilled wairua (spirituality) into the new buildings.
“I think with the support of not just Kāinga Ora, but everybody who comes along to tautoko [support] these blessings, our whānau will be able to flourish and live better lives for themselves and their community.”
Construction only began on the two- and three-bedroom properties in February of this year.
Forty-two more homes are expected to be blessed over the course of the month. Although absent on Wednesday, students from local kura are often part of blessings, singing waiata throughout the process.
Kāinga Ora is in the middle of a financial reset and has halted 212 housing projects across the country.
However, all Tairāwhiti projects in the pipeline will be proceeding, which Kāinga Ora senior communications adviser Toni Lexmond attributed to significant need in the region.
At the end of 2021, 390 households were in emergency housing on the East Coast (Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne). That had decreased by 90% to 24 households at the end of May.
This was attributed to increased social and community housing supply. Kāinga Ora has delivered 44 state homes in Gisborne in the year to June 30.
A 2025 study funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment found that, by age 12, tamariki who started their lives in public housing had higher levels of wellbeing than some of their peers.
When asked about the importance of these new homes for people in need, Akroyd quoted a whakataukī (proverb) by kaumātua Joe Naden.
“Ko te kainga te whakaruruhau o te whanau; ki te kore he kainga ma te marangai te whanau e hemo.”
This translates to, “The home is the shelter of the whānau; if there is no home the whānau becomes victim of the elements.”
Gisborne man Thomas stands on the deck of his new home at Kāinga Ora’s new Tamarau development in Gisborne. Photo / Kāinga Ora
Thomas said moving into stable housing would allow him to focus on his health and reconnect with his 14-year-old son.
“This home really is a light at the end of a very long tunnel,” he said.
“I was on my deathbed seven months ago – in and out of hospital with kidney and heart issues. But now I’m starting to look ahead.
“I can focus on my health without worrying where I’ll be next week. I’m looking forward to having my son stay with me and being part of his life again.”
