Gisborne leaders push for local say on $1.4b government social funding

Manaaki Tairāwhiti strategic adviser Judy Campbell and Willie Te Aho, chief executive for Te Aitanga a Mahaki, are on the region’s community commission working group, forming the “Tairawhiti Bid” for funding, and spoke to the council this month.

Tairāwhiti leaders are eyeing a new government pathway that could transform the way an estimated $1.4 billion of government social service investment funds are managed.

It is estimated $1.4b enters the region through government funding for social services.

Gisborne leaders are expecting to be invited to submit an expression of interest in a Community Commissioning pathway that could allow leaders to have more say in how that funding is used.

The pathway is being established by the Social Investment Agency and is estimated to open early next year.

A “Tairāwhiti Bid” for the pathway is under way, and Mayor Rehette Stoltz has given her support.

Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, Stoltz said the bid was “an ambitious and exciting step for our region”.

“The council supports a united bid for social investment in Tairāwhiti because its important decisions are made closer to the whānau and communities they affect.

“It makes sense to align housing, health, education and employment investment with what Tairāwhiti knows will make the biggest difference for us in the places it’s needed most.”

Manaaki Tairāwhiti strategic adviser Judy Campbell and Te Aitanga a Mahaki chief executive Willie Te Aho are on the region’s community commission working group, forming the “Tairāwhiti Bid” for funding.

Campbell told LDR the $1.4b spent in the region for social services was an estimate from an economist.

She and Te Aho gave a presentation at a council environment and communities committee meeting this month.

Campbell said if Tairāwhiti could make choices on how the $1.4b was spent, it would “have a better impact for our whānau, our community and our GDP”.

The “vote Tairāwhiti” concept meant they did not want the funds “by the slices”, meaning “a bit for housing, a bit for health and a bit for education”.

“Not contracts but devolution, and a vote process that is regionally based as opposed to subject-matter based,” she said.

“We want the whole sum provided to the region for a regional entity to make the decisions on how it is split and spent.”

What will the entity look like?

Campbell said they were starting to investigate draft operating principles before creating the entity, and it would be owned by the community “in some kind of way”.

It would be a non-profit ownership and would ensure relevant regional organisations had a say on how commissioning happened.

“The conflict of interest management policy would be strong.”

There would be an elected “skills-based” board made up of individuals who had “some distance” between the money coming in and funds being given to providers in the region.

According to a Manaaki Tairāwhiti statement, the bid was being developed by a regional working group led by Manaaki Tairāwhiti and Toitū Tairāwhiti Builtsmart Ltd.

Manaaki Tairāwhiti is a regional collective that encompasses iwi, the council, Trust Tairāwhiti, government agencies and the networks of Non-Government Organisations that provide social services.

The working group represented Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Rongowhakaata and Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Te Rūnanga o Tūranganui a Kiwa (including its subsidiary service providers), Tūranga Health and Toitū Tairāwhiti Housing Limited.

Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou was not a part of the bid, as it was conducting its own process on community commissioning, the statement said.

Campbell said they were using Toitū housing as a case study.

“Many know the Toitū housing story that started at five houses a year and is now doing 50-plus.”

Campbell said people in the current system “hardly ever get out”.

The entity would not “be prescriptive about the way in which providers deliver services” and would work with providers to measure outcomes.

“We don’t want to have devolution from the Government to then act as though we are the Government.”

The ‘Big Picture’

Te Aho said he wanted to paint a “big picture”.

The government investment tagged for this region was used across health, housing, education, social services, and for the development of the workforce and the economy, he said.

“Despite that, we have some of the worst social deprivation in the country.”

According to data shown during the presentation, 35,000 out of 52,000 residents required some form of Crown assistance.

“Iwi organisations with the highest social deprivation have $30 million of $1.5 billion, so this model is wrong.”

They believed they had to take a “long-term perspective” and could halve overheads by having a commissioning agency.

By year 11, they would have increased the GDP by $1.8 billion a year, he said.

This would be achieved by reducing social deprivation ... “lifting the work skills and moving [people] into the workforce and increasing productivity”.

Community Commissioning engagement hui are happening throughout the region, with dates advertised on the Manaaki Tairāwhiti website.