Community-led Māori housing shows new options for whānau
A Māori housing project in Hawke’s Bay is being held up as a template for more affordable, community‑based homeownership – and its founder wants to see versions of it rolled out across Aotearoa.
Puke Aute papakāinga, in Te Hauke about 20 minutes south of Hastings, sits on ancestral Māori land and received funding through government‑backed Māori housing initiatives such as Te Puni Kōkiri. The village comprises 10 new homes, vege gardens, lambs, chickens and pigs.
Some residents rent, some buy, and others follow a rent‑to‑buy pathway – but the land itself can never be sold.
“There are some wins out of this whole thing, it's not perfect, but our whānau have been able to save some money because the rent isn't so high," project lead Zack Makaore told RNZ.
“They've saved to purchase their homes in the next five years, or to purchase a house somewhere else and other family moves in here.”
Five pou underpin a ‘no patches, no meth’ village culture
Makaore said the papakāinga is built around five pou (principles): local politics and government involvement, caring for the environment, growing economic opportunities, helping others, and building a positive culture around manaakitanga.
“We're also standing up to having no gang patches on site and no one on methamphetamine – just a culture of people going to work, going to training, and kids thriving in school,” Makaore said.
He wants to see the village mentality extended well beyond Puke Aute.
“Why can't we do it for all New Zealanders – you know, little villages – thousands of villages where we all work together and everyone feels comfortable in what they do and how they do it," Makaore said.
“I think we are in a great position right now with the downturn in the economy. It's a good time to transition some of this thought into housing for ourselves."
“We need papakāinga for the rest of country, not Housing New Zealand stuff, but people thinking about living in a community where everybody is working together as opposed to state housing.”
Residents gain housing, connection – and practical support
For resident Vivienne Duxfield, renting at Puke Aute has been both a financial and cultural homecoming.
“It's a wonderful place, it's a place of connection with my whakapapa – my mother lived here before me and this land belonged to our family," Duxfield told RNZ.
“I've learned more about the culture because I wasn't raised with the Māori culture at all, and so for me there is a coming home in that way too.”
As one of the only non‑working residents, Duxfield has taken on caring for the village lambs and gets involved with tamariki.
“I get involved in any way that I can, I take the children with me to feed the lambs – we have a lot of fun because I don't have grandchildren and here I have many grandchildren and it's wonderful,” she said.
“I'm a total novice – oh my goodness it's been a roller coaster and I now have become fairly knowledgeable on the subject.”
The community is still taking shape, but she said everyone was feeling positive about the direction they were taking.
“There is a lot of work to keep a place like this running and it's hard to achieve, but it's really important and we're beginning to develop a way of life.”
Mental wellbeing and rangatahi at the heart of the model
Makaore, who founded Te Taitimu Trust in 2007 after losing his son to suicide, sees the papakāinga as an extension of his mahi supporting rangatahi and whānau wellbeing.
The trust helps hundreds of young people build confidence through local Hawke’s Bay camps at nearby beaches and rivers, and Puke Aute brings that community focus into a permanent village setting.
“We've been able to help others through that grief. It's about supporting people and whānau, we want to be part of that thinking around a little village,” Makaore said.
For Kiwi advisers working with Māori clients, community‑focused investors or whānau trusts, Puke Aute underscores the potential of papakāinga and shared‑equity style models to combine housing affordability, cultural connection, and wellbeing in a way standard suburban developments often can’t.
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