Family first as hapu houses its own people

Hinewera Lane is its own little paradise.

Fed up with seeing the housing struggles its whanau was facing, Ngati Hinewera got up and did something about it.

So, on an expansive 1.45ha site of prime real estate that had been sitting dormant for years on the outskirts of Taradale, Ngati Hinewera Lane was born.

It is there that the hapū had eight houses built, a mix of two, three and four-bedroom dwellings, a papakainga, a place the Tareha line could call home for generations.

They had whanau living in caravans, sheds and decrepit houses. While this may be acceptable in the short term, some of the whanau were living in such circumstances long-term, even generational.

The papakainga has a basketball court, room for a touch field, vegetable gardens, alongside numerous fruit trees. There is also a resident grounds manager to take care of the place.

Laurie O'Reilly, who led the project, carried on the dream left behind by his grandfather, Hori Ngakawhe, who raised 13 children in one household and knew housing would be in demand.

But now that the dream has been realised at a cost of $2.7 million, the new work begins to keep that dream from crumbling and falling apart.

There is a mortgage to pay, so rules have been set - no gangs, no dogs and no drugs. In return, family pay well below market rate for rentals of similar quality in the area.

"An ability to pay rent and look after the houses is important.

"We also prefer tenants who can contribute positively to the wairua (spirit) and mauri (lifeforce) of the papakainga, the marae and the hapū as a whole," says O'Reilly.

Like any tenancy agreement, if rules are broken there are consequences and family can be evicted, but only as a last resort.

The Ngati Hinewera Trust has made a significant investment in the papakainga and wants it to remain financially viable.

O'Reilly describes it as "heartening" to see the improved health and well-being of their elders and children as a result of now living in warm, secure homes.

It has taken years of extremely hard work and countless hours put in, but O'Reilly says "anything worth it doesn't come easy".

His advice for anyone wanting to take on a similar project and turn their under-utilised Māori land into a papakainga is to have a clear vision and plan.

"Obtain as much buy-in from the wider whanau and hapū as possible.

"If enough whanau genuinely support the vision and plan, it will only be a matter of time before the development becomes a reality."

There are long-term plans for further expansions enabling more whānau to live in a safe and peaceful environment.