Housing and Budget 2021

Published 20 May 21

The 2021 recovery Budget includes investment to support Māori housing, and continue funding for homelessness services. It also aims to stimulate the construction sector, and support Kāinga Ora to lead urban development and carbon reduction initiatives.

Building more houses – the Māori Infrastructure Fund

As part of Government Housing Package already announced in March, the $3.8 billion Housing Acceleration Fund will enable more houses to be built across New Zealand for decades to come.

In Budget 2021, $350 million from the $3.8b Housing Acceleration Fund has been set aside for a Māori Infrastructure Fund. Further decisions on other allocation of funding is to be made mid-2021.

This investment focuses on infrastructure barriers that are contributing to a housing crisis that disproportionality impacts Māori. It will address the unique funding and financing barriers to building on whenua Māori.

This investment supports the immediate delivery of Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga and will create a pipeline of infrastructure enabled sites for future iwi and Māori housing delivery.

Māori Housing - Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga

Budget 2021 sees a $380 million investment in the delivery of new housing and repairs to existing stock for Māori across Aotearoa. This is a joint initiative between Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga – Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and Te Puni Kōkiri(external link).

This initiative directly focuses on and relates to accelerating Māori housing solutions in highly deprived areas. It will be delivered through Te Maihi o te Whare Māori – Māori and Iwi Housing Innovation (MAIHI). MAIHI brings Māori and iwi and the Crown together in a working partnership. 

The $380 million investment in Māori housing will deliver:

  • approximately 1,000 additional houses (including a mix of papakāinga and larger scale developments)
  • repairs to a further 700 houses delivered in partnership with Māori and iwi.
  • A shift in the scale of impact and long-term sustainability of Māori housing delivery with $30 million dollars of capability funding to support Māori-led delivery models.

Funding targets regions and communities that have high Māori populations with whenua to support housing. It will deliver immediate to medium term housing supply and repairs for communities with high housing stress while enabling a shift in Māori housing delivery by investing in new Iwi led housing delivery approaches.

Homelessness

Budget 2021 includes $199 million for homelessness initiatives, including:  

These initiatives focus on continued provision of wrap-around support services to help individuals and whānau move quickly into stable accommodation and access wider social supports. The funding will also provide a limited extension to short-term COVID-19 accommodation while housing places are built through the Government build programme.   

Urban development

Operational funding will support Kāinga Ora to carry out its core urban development functions under: 

  • the Kāinga Ora–Homes and Communities Act 2019  
  • the Urban Development Act 2020. 

More information - Māori housing investment

For more information, read the press release - Significant boost for Māori housing in Budget 2021 on the Beehive website(external link).  

Māori housing investment

Budget 2021 will invest $380 million into Māori housing across Aotearoa New Zealand, delivering additional new houses, whare repairs, and capability building.

MAY 20, 2021

Topics:

Related