Indigenous co-housing development in Hawke's Bay gets its first residents

Waingakau Village project manager Emma Horgan with Jay Eriksen and Christine Hilton. Horgan is proud of how the development is coming along. Photo / Paul Taylor

New Zealand's first indigenous co-housing community, Waingākau Village in Flaxmere, Hawke's Bay has just welcomed its first residents - one of the families that helped build it.

Waingakau is set on 15.5ha semi-rural land in Kingsley Chatham, on the western edge of Flaxmere, with views towards Te Mata Peak and the Kaweka and Ruahine Ranges.

The development is expected to have 127 homes in total, including 55 stand-alone homes, with the rest expected to be co-housing homes.

Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga board chairman Mike Paku, who officially opened the site in June 2019, said the housing project took a fresh look at enabling families into home ownership.

Project manager Emma Horgan said three houses had been completed to date.

"There is a waiting list for the first 35 homes, which are pre-sold in principle."

The houses range in price from $220,000 to $550,00, with pathways to home ownership including supported rent, rent to buy, supported and full ownership and co-operative ownership.

Rikki Te Kira is one of the proud residents.

"Rikki went for a full market purchase," Horgan said.

Te Kira said he used equity to assist with the purchase.

"We are going through a mortgage broker to support our son Payton with the deposit towards purchasing one of the first three stand-alone new builds within the Waingakau Village development.

"There will be five people moving into the house, with many visits and stay-overs from the grandchildren."

Te Kira works at the development and he said co-housing would eventually be made available for young and old, single people to families with the "achievable goal of ownership".

"We have lived and brought up our children in Flaxmere for many years now and am supportive of our next generation being raised in a new friendly environment with Te Aranga Marae at the heart of Waingakau.

"As the saying goes, 'it takes a village to raise a child'."

Horgan said the preference for people wanting to stay at the village was for them to go through a financial capability workshop over a period of eight weeks.

"We don't want to set them up for failure. Ideally, we would like either first-home buyers or second -chance buyers from Flaxmere to apply."

Paku said the development represented the fulfilment of a long-held aspiration put in place by the kaumatua and kuia 30 years ago.

"Sporting New Zealand's first co-operative community and world's first indigenous co-housing community, Waingakau is leading the way in rebuilding nurturing communities that put people first.

"'A person nurtured in a community setting contributes strongly to society' is the driving force behind Waingakau Village," Paku said.