A REPORT COMMISSIONED BY HIKURANGI ENTERPRISES & THE TODD FOUNDATION
DECEMBER 2021
This project was initiated between Hikurangi Enterprises Ltd and the Todd Foundation with an intention to identify the range of financing options for papakāinga built on Māori land. The plan was to identify a small number of diverse papakāinga projects, interview papakāinga representatives, government officials and bank representatives to understand how they were financed and share the findings.
After initial contact with a small number of key stakeholders involved in papakāinga developments around the country, it seems that 99% of papakainga projects are currently funded via Te Puni Kokiri and the Kainga Whenua scheme for Ahu Whenua trusts.
This report subsequently summarises the main way papakāinga are funded via Ahu Whenua trusts and explains in some detail the process to go through for both trusts and individual whānau interested in accessing loans and government grants for building on whenua Māori. Ahu Whenua trusts as owners of new residences on their whenua can in turn become a Community Housing Provider to receive government subsidies on rental properties for eligible low-income whānau. Alternatively a land trust could partner with an existing CHP such as an iwi social housing provider or a mainstream housing NGO like Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army or Presbyterian Support Services.
There is an additional opportunity identified for private lenders (sometimes known as ‘impact investors’) willing to take the risk that most banks will not on lending to individual whānau for building on Māori land.
View the report:
