Te ahi ka o Taiwhakaea – Papakainga

Tu Tangata, Issue 35, 1 April 1987, Page 22

Te ahi ka o Taiwhakaea - Papakainga

Na Ann Simpson

TE WHENUA

Tihei mauriora.

Patu Tatahi te one tapu, Te Paroa te marae, Taiwhakaea te tipuna, Te whakaruruhau o te papakainga o nga uri whakaheke.

Papakainga housing is not a new concept our tipuna lived that way for hundreds of years. With the move from rural to urban the old marae centred homes were deserted, a sign of the changing times back then. But now, in the Bay of Plenty, one Ngati Awa hapu Taiwhakaea has brought the old stamping grounds to life. They are using new rules to re-establish the papakainga and bring the people back to their poutokomanawa.

“The whole thing started when a young woman of the tribe, a shareholder, came and said she wanted a section near the marae for a home. She didn’t want to live in town. We thought ‘Why not?’” Stan Newton said.

Mr Newton is the chairman of the Taiwhakaea No 2 Trust. Late in 1982 the trust embarked on a project which has just been completed a subdivision next to the marae for 20 homes and four kaumatua flats.

The ancient home o nga uri o Taiwhakaea, o Ngati Awa lies 3 miles west of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty. The area is known as Paroa. The papakainga concept ancestral land for housing families around their marae lapsed in the 50s and 60s. Hearths and homes were deserted in the rush to the cities for work. It was not included in district schemes drawn up by councils under the Town and Country Planning Act. “The first thing we had to do was to apply for a ‘specified departure’ to allow a subdivision on rural land The papakainga was amalgamated in 1962 and leased to a farmer to pay the rates,” Mr Newton said.

“A review of the district plan was due in 1985 and we had to have submissions prepared. That wasn’t the end. Over the next few weeks we had to submit a volume of information and pages of details on the proposal to get planning permission. It had to conform in all respects to any similar development in town.” Work began on the site in April 1986 and was completed late last year. The trustees have become the registered owners and are able to lease the sections for a term of 42 years to shareholders. Forty-two years is the maximum term allowable under the Maori Affairs Act section 438 trusts. At the end of that term, the trustees may re-lease. Lending institutions can take security over the section. “Secondly, to prevent the land going to anyone not a beneficiary, the lease terms allow the owners (in this case the block trustees) to charge an annual rental up to 25 per cent of the capital value of the house and section. The trustees must give permission to live in the home after 42 years. It’s pretty

sophisticated and I think takes note of Maori values as far as their papakainga land goes,” said John Chadwick of Rotorua, the trust’s lawyer. “Section holders will pay $2,000 a year for the first five years and thereafter a ‘peppercorn’ rental nothing.” The Director of Housing, Maori Affairs, Robin Hapi says his department is committed to getting Maori families into houses on their own land. “We are promoting cluster or whanau housing. Papakainga housing embraces the values and ideals of the Maori. “Taiwhakaea is the first such subdivision in the country where the people did all the work and we supplied the finance and support.” The total cost of development was $200,000 and the department loaned $150,000 for 3 years at 9 per cent. The 20 homes with an estimated value of slm. should be finished by the end of this year. Several building firms from Hastings, Taupo, Tauranga and Rotorua are seeking contracts to build the houses.