{"id":576041,"date":"2026-08-21T16:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T16:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/576041\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T16:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T16:42:13","slug":"tenants-to-pay-80-of-market-rent-at-affordable-housing-development-in-tairawhiti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/576041\/","title":{"rendered":"Tenants to pay 80% of market rent at affordable housing development in Tair\u0101whiti"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government contributed $49m, while Toit\u016b Tair\u0101whiti provided the rest.<\/p>\n

Toit\u016b Tair\u0101whiti Housing strategy manager Kararaina Calcott-Cribb said the development would \u201cbring the heart of the people alive\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wellbeing that comes from actually being in a place where you\u2019ve got your wh\u0101naunga next door.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve also got nannies in their one- or two-bedroom houses across the way and they\u2019ll all see their mokopuna.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe importance about actually being here is that whanaungatanga, that kotahitanga, and you know, te \u0101hurutanga, which is about the protection of being in a place like this … you get protection when you\u2019re together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka said he was \u201cabsolutely pumped\u201d to see the development.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is so energising and motivating for people like myself and [Housing] Minister [Chris] Bishop to see the fruition of working together with communities to actually deliver product and ultimately the platform for communities, wh\u0101nau, hap\u016b, iwi to grow together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what he would consider to be affordable housing in a place like the East Coast, Potaka said it depended, and became \u201cquite tough\u201d in a one-income family.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially if the affordable rate\u2019s about $600 to $700 a week. That\u2019s actually quite expensive, so the goal for us is to make sure we can build housing in a manner that\u2019s cost-effective, in a way that we can see wh\u0101nau actually afford it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop said it was \u201cawesome\u201d to be in Tair\u0101whiti, \u201cthe best day as Housing Minister \u2013 and there are some quite tough days \u2013 but the best days are when you get to go and open new houses\u201d.<\/p>\n

When asked what he considered affordable housing to be, Bishop also said it depends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just heard that the rental market here is people paying hundreds and hundreds of dollars per week for three or four-bedroom homes and, you know, that\u2019s why we\u2019ve got to build more houses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FiftyFifty of the 150 affordable homes at T\u016branga Tangata Rite have been completed, with the first tenants to move in next month. Photo\/ Leonie Sheehan<\/p>\n

Bishop said there was a real housing need in Tair\u0101whiti.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we\u2019ve got an affordability problem here, there\u2019s no doubt about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharon Campbell and sons Rihari and Ngapo stood outside the opening of the stage one development to protest against the Government and encourage M\u0101ori to enrol to vote.<\/p>\n

\"SharonSharon Campbell and her sons, Ngapo and Rihari, support the T\u016branga Tangata Rite housing development but protested against the coalition Government. Photo\/ Leonie Sheehan<\/p>\n

Campbell made it clear she supported the development, but had a simple message for the ministers who attended: \u201cShame on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShame on you for slashing and burning everything to do with the Treaty of Waitangi, te whakaputanga, initiatives that would support the wellbeing of all people who live in Aotearoa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tenants can apply to live at the development by emailing Toit\u016b Housing and indicating their interest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government contributed $49m, while Toit\u016b Tair\u0101whiti provided the rest. Toit\u016b Tair\u0101whiti Housing strategy manager Kararaina Calcott-Cribb said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[88233,36966,1975,170,4957,6800,10053,3339,78,296,225,4486,2683,111,43,139,1536,69,1118,2744,34592,16401,30279,17292,61,30859,102],"class_list":["post-576041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-88233","tag-affordable","tag-at","tag-development","tag-fifty","tag-homes","tag-house","tag-housing","tag-in","tag-into","tag-market","tag-month","tag-move","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-pay","tag-ready","tag-rent","tag-tairwhiti","tag-tenants","tag-to","tag-whnau","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}