A healthy, affordable and secure home in a caring, connected community is a foundation for whānau wellbeing. The Tauāki Tū position statement sets out the significant housing-related health challenges facing Māori across the Waikato, Hauraki, Maniapoto, Raukawa and Ngāti Hauā rohe, including housing insecurity, cold, damp and mouldy homes, overcrowding, affordability pressures, homelessness and rural isolation. The evidence shows that inadequate housing can contribute to respiratory illness, financial and mental stress, disrupted education, whānau strain and avoidable hospitalisation. Health and housing are therefore inseparable, requiring coordinated action across both sectors.
Te Tiratū calls for sustained action across six strategic pou, underpinned by mana motuhake for whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori communities: alleviating housing insecurity, ensuring safe housing and support for whānau in greatest need, improving the health and resilience of existing kāinga, addressing rural isolation and access to essential services, improving affordability and pathways to Māori home ownership, and enabling Māori-led kāinga and whenua development. This includes stronger early support to prevent homelessness, investment in healthy and energy-efficient homes, better rural services and connectivity, affordable rental and home-ownership pathways, and greater support for Māori-led housing and whenua development. Te Tiratū is committed to working with iwi, Māori providers and relevant agencies to advance these strategies so that all whānau have a home that enables them not simply to survive, but to thrive.
