Urban Māori Responses to Changes in State Housing Provision

Charles Waldegrave, Catherine Love, Shane Stuart

The most notable of the reforms signalled by the 1992 Housing Restructuring Act involved a move away from the provision of properties by the state at income-related rents, to a new system of provision of state houses based on market rents, with direct income supplements to low-income households.

Because Māori have been over-represented both among low-income and state-renting groups, and the major policy changes in the housing area can be expected to have had disproportionate impacts for Māori, the Family Centre Social Policy Research Unit undertook research to determine how urban Māori state tenants were faring under the state housing reforms and to gain some insight into the experience and circumstances of urban Māori state-tenant and ex-state-tenant households under the current policy framework.

This paper draws upon that research as a basis for assessing the effectiveness of the new ways of delivering housing assistance, in terms of outcomes for urban Māori households. Overall, the findings provide a picture of a group of urban Māori households with high levels of housing need, financial shortages, overcrowding, and little perceived choice in their housing.