Youth, education and housing top Budget wishlist for Rotorua Māori

Members of Rotorua's Māori community want the focus of this year's Budget to be on youth, education and housing.

The Rotorua Lakes Council Te Tatau o Te Arawa chairman Te Taru White said people were crying out for more money to be focused on building houses.

"We need a targeted funding plan to address homelessness. Whether that's building homeless shelters, offering support, budgeting for housing services, making it affordable.

"It could well be that marae that offer [themselves]as shelter could be supported."

White said there was no quick homeless solution and a focus on preventative measures was needed.

"We also need to make sure while dealing with the social problems we are looking forward to our development as a city as well.

"Māori now have the land available and we are wanting to diversify our portfolio, which brings an increase in jobs and value.

"We would like to see resources that enable that development to happen."

Hone Morris, who works at the Fordlands Community Centre, said he would be looking for funding to go towards youth and community centres.

"We need to create bigger spaces for rangatahi to connect with each other."

Morris said he also wanted to see a bigger budget for education.

"I would like to see more types of learning in the curriculum for children to engage with.

"There could be more educational pathways for Māori rangatahi to better equip themselves for the future."

He said the funding didn't have to be Māori specific, just more inclusive.

Māori warden Trevayze Wairepo said a key for him would be to see more funding for youth services.

"As a Māori warden we see a lot of young people around town causing havoc.

"It would be great to see more funding for a youth hub and the services it offers."