Unified policy for Maori housing

Northland's three district councils are aiming for what may be a New Zealand first in developing a unified approach to papakainga housing - housing on Maori land.
The initiative will position the north to take maximum advantage of new policies being framed at national level, which may see Housing New Zealand with $5 million budget for papakainga housing.
Information will be released this month on the amount likely to be allocated to Housing New Zealand and where the funding is coming from.
Whangarei District Council's Maori Liaison Committee yesterday unanimously accepted a report on different papakainga policies around the country and progress towards a unified policy for the north from Whangarei District Council policy planner Nicci Webb.
Ms Webb said the Far North, Whangarei and Kaipara District Councils, working with Te Puni Kokiri and Te Hau Ora O Kaikohe, was aiming to produce a policy framework by July 31, after several meetings over the past few weeks.
Ms Webb said there were now no rules in the Whangarei District Plan relating to papakainga housing - although the Long Term Council Community Plan required council to clearly define processes to enable housing sub-divisions and residential unit construction on multiply-owned Maori land.
The only mechanism was "controlled activity status" for a subdivision no smaller than 20ha.
The plan had nothing to do with who owned the land, its primary role being to manage environmental effects including infrastructure.
She said people trying to get permission and finance for papakainga housing were suffering from the lack of co-ordination between agencies.
"This leads to Maori going from one agency to the other - asking council questions about whether or not they can build on their land, trying to get partition orders from the Maori Land Court, and at the same time trying to get financial support from Housing New Zealand," she said.
"The more people [were] involved, the more complex the process becomes."
Different methods of achieving permission for papakainga housing included partition order, occupation order, license to occupy, lease and general title.
Ms Webb said a unitary approach for the north was essential because Maori land did not follow the boundaries of local authorities.
"At the moment you could get a piece of land that is in all three councils' areas which means three different sets of rules to follow."
Deputy mayor Kahu Sutherland asked that Ms Webb's presentation be made available as hard copy as well as on the WDC website, so it could be read by as many people as possible.
Ms Webb said papakainga traditionally meant "a nurturing place to return to" but some contemporary definitions were that it now related to the development of the land.
Whangarei District Council preferred to look at papakainga housing as a blend/combination of those approaches "to mean a form of housing development on Maori land, a place to return to, for Maori to live on their land".
* COUNCIL MAORI LAND COMPRISES:
•: About 4.5 per cent of Whangarei district - 11,000ha.
•: 3 per cent of Kaipara district.
•: 19 per cent of the Far North district.