A Samoan family of 15 living in a four-bedroom Kainga Ora, (New Zealand's state housing agency) home suffered severe health issues due to their living conditions.
Photo: 123RF
Auckland Wide Healthy Homes Initiative (AWHI) identified the mother of the family and two of her children as contracting rheumatic fever from their living conditions.
The mother was hospitalised, with two of her heart valves needing replacing.
Rachel Brown is the service delivery head at the National Hauora Coalition, which runs AWHI.
National Hauora Coalition Service Delivery Lead, Rachel Brown. Photo: Supplied / National Hauora Coalition
She said whānau should be able to co-design their homes to fit their needs.
"Not just a government initiative that thinks they know what whānau want," she said.
"Sometimes it's about the spaces we live in. It's about the spaces we cook in, it's about the spaces we congregate in - and are they meeting the needs of the whānau?"
Associate Health Minister (Pasifika) Aupito William Sio met with elders in Ōtara, South Auckland, last week to discuss last year's $41.3 million Budget injection to meet Pasifika housing.
He reaffirmed the government's strategy through the Healthy Homes Initiative to prevent rheumatic fever and other illnesses caused by cold and damp conditions.
The initiative has helped about 24,000 high-risk children and over 88,000 members of the Pasifika and Māori communities.
"This government wants to see agencies do more, collaborate more, coordinate more," he said.
"I want to see money flowing into the community and that's quite challenging."
"But it's easy if we understand that the community should be empowered to lead and design what is best for them."
Photo: Jogai Bhatt
Aupito said public servants, including himself, often fail to leave it up to grassroots organisations to develop their own solutions.
"We hear the solutions and go back to Wellington and do our own thing. We as a nation have created this over the past several decades and if we don't collectively now do things differently about it we're going to see more and more of the same."
Stats NZ's Housing in Aotearoa: 2020 report indicated Pasifika come out worst on nearly every housing measure.
Frank Poissonnier, who lives at Concord Place in a social housing complex, says he's fed up with the cold and mouldy conditions at his home. Photo: RNZ / Eleisha Foon
Pasifika are least likely to own their own home and more likely to be Kainga Ora tenants.
Half of Pasifika are affected by overcrowded, damp and mouldy homes.
Housing deprivation rates for Pasifika are close to four times more than Pākēha.
Dr Brown said the overlap between housing and health issues means the government should consider heftier funding in future.
"I think there's a lot of work to be done in the space and while 40 million is great, that is not enough," she said.
"It's not sufficient, we need more."
She said the everyday struggle is not about housing but having a cold and damp home only adds to poor health.
"They want to buy food. They need shoes for their kids. They need warm clothing and sometimes the housing need comes secondary to whatever is the primary need at the moment."
Tuputau Lelaulu is the director and founder of MAU Studio, an architectural design firm focussed on indigenous solutions.
MAU Studio director and founder, Tuputau Lelaulu. Photo: The Coconet
He said three-bedroom homes for aiga, kainga, fanau who live intergenerationally aren't cutting it.
"You know, there are two level houses right now with no bedrooms on the bottom floor and no showers, no toilets on the bottom floor," he said.
"So our Pacific elders are having to shower outside. That was happening for 10 years, because there was a lack of understanding of Pacific ways of living and Pacific ways of being."
Although there are efforts to build more homes, he said it's the way in which they are built that needs a re-think.
"That mana enhancing process for Pacific communities into housing in New Zealand really starts at the design process," he said.
"The last time a Pacific design guide was created was back in 2002, and really only six to seven houses were built off that.
"Really, housing is not fit for purpose for Pacific communities because it's not integrated into the design process and construction process of housing in New Zealand."
Photo: RNZ/ Nick Monro
Penina Health Trust was the first registered Pasifika community housing provider in 2017.
They are currently in contact with more than 500 families, operating about 136 units in Auckland alone.
Chief executive Tupuola Roine Lealaiauloto said social and transitional housing complexes fill up within a week of opening.
Having grown up in state housing and now helping those in the same situation, Tupuola struggles to meet growing demands.
"You know we're talking about demand with the increased population," she said.
"In terms of Covid, that's exacerbated by the fact a lot of people came home.
"The price of rentals is phenomenal. The market is red hot."
Tupuola said there needs to be alternative solutions to housing that leverages Pasifika needs and values.
As cries for better Pasifika housing solutions grow louder, it's apparent the issue is no simple fix.