default-output-block.skip-main
National | Homeless

Māori home ownership achievable

Home ownership is achievable according to Inez White who is helping Māori families in Rotorua buy their own homes.  She believes that the statistics are shocking regarding home ownership for Māori and has set out to change it.

This Rotorua women hopes to Equip Māori with the knowledge of the housing market.

Inez White (Te Arawa) says, “First of all we are trying to fix the knowledge poverty so provide the information in accessible whānau environment, kaupapa Māori as much as we can to help make it available, the information available because it should be a right not a privilege to know how to buy your own home.”

According to Te Puni Kōkiri, Māori have a strong desire for homeownership.  However, barriers restricting them from this include being on low incomes having high debt levels and poor access to finance.

White says, “On one hand, our people aren't informed on how to do it and on the other hand the services aren't there, so it's magnified for us.”

Statistics New Zealand data indicate that the percentage of Maori living in owner-occupied dwellings dropped in the Rotorua district by 30.8%.  In their report they found the average ownership had dropped across the country to 15 per cent for the total population and for Māori 20%.

“We have heaps of Māori lands out there and we have supposedly loans that help us to build on our whenua, but the laws involved make it prohibitive,” says White.

Ms. White teaches financial literacy to those wanting help in the home-buying process but her passion is to help her own into their own homes.