Tūhoe prepare housing plan for tribe's future
9 November 2017
Tūhoe is in the midst of developing a 40 year housing plan for their iwi - which could include communal village style housing built on ancestral land.
No captionThe new development will include a mix of private living spaces and shared amenities (file photo). Photo: RNZ
Te Uru Taumatua chairman Tamati Kruger said the 40-year plan was a chance for Tūhoe to stamp their mark on their own housing plan.
"Do we do what everyone else does and just build houses for individuals - or do we look at housing as a component of advancing and exulting being Tūhoe."
At this stage, Mr Kruger said there was a one-to-three-year short term action plan to deal with the urgent need for housing in the Tūhoe area.
"Of course there are urgencies but I think that the correct response to that is when we do things at an impulse we find ourselves creating more problems and having to fix up what was an impulse."
Tamati Kruger says Mana Motuhake is about solving your own issues. Tamati Kruger. Photo: Supplied
The three-to-five-year medium term plan is to develop concept model villages that include a mix of private living spaces and shared amenities.
Sustainability and environmental practices would also be key in the village concept that could house entire generations of whānau from mokopuna through to kaumatua.
"We're not talking about having the same type of housing, but it could be from five bedrooms to studio flats - it's a mixture of a village rather than just an age group."
Building on ancestral land will bring its own set of challenges, with Māori land often having numerous ancestral title holders.
"The ownership tradition is something that we would have to challenge in terms of collective belonging and collective connection to both land and property," he said.
Any housing plans needed to incorporate Tūhoe beliefs, values and principles.
"We are all Tūhoe. In our collective identity there's our culture and our connection to each other - we can't really have a housing strategy that denies who we are."
