$2.4 million housing project announced for Kaingaroa community development

Kaingaroa Forest Village is the sixth and final community project to join the Māori Housing Network Community Development program.

Minister for Māori Development and Associate Minister of Housing Hon Nanaia Mahuta today visited the close-knit community of Kaingaroa Village to announce a $2.4 million investment in housing as part of the ongoing community development project in the region.  

Kaingaroa Forest Village is the sixth and final community project to join the Māori Housing Network Community Development program. These Community Development projects recognize that no single intervention or entity can solve the increasingly complex problems that communities face.  

Te Puni Kōkiri has been working alongside the Bay of Plenty rōpū and they have worked hard to bring to fruition their community aspirations. 

Minister Mahuta says the whānau of Kaingaroa Village is a great example of a community that has a strong vision of growth and development despite the numerous challenges they have faced. 

“There is a school, marae, rental, and privately-owned homes and community centers. But the community needs help to repair and revitalize these essential facilities.  

“I know Kaingaroa Village and their wider whānau are committed to regenerating their community and their commitment, effort and collaboration will see these dreams come to pass,“ Minister Mahuta says.  

This community development model will prioritize projects such as urgent housing repairs, an infrastructure upgrade of an oxidation pond for future papakāinga development, and delivery of the Sorted Kāinga Ora financial capability program.  

“Feedback we have received from the Kaingaroa whānau shows this strong partnership between Te Puni Kōkiri, other government agencies, and the Māori community is working. Whānau in this rohe now feel excited, inspired and have hope for a prosperous future living in the Kaingaroa village. 

“Achieving healthy, secure and affordable housing can lead to transformational change for whānau and long term wellbeing,” says Nanaia Mahuta.

(With Inputs from New Zealand Government Press Release)