A Glen Innes community leader has told the Labour Party there is huge fear and panic for Maori over the Government's Tamaki Redevelopment housing project.
Labour leader David Cunliffe and several MPs visited Ruapotaka Marae on Monday, to promote the party's housing and health policies.
The marae's kaitiaki, Georgie Thompson, told Mr Cunliffe the plan to develop the eastern suburb had been unsettling, particularly for state housing tenants who are being evicted.
At one point, protesters occupied a Housing New Zealand property. Photo: RNZ
She said local Maori were worried that they were being pushed out of Glen Innes, since the creation of housing redevelopments in the area, which she said had been an unsettling process for the community.
She said Housing New Zealand was now working closely with the area but not everything was going well as it could and she said it was important to focus on keeping Maori in the local community.
There were two housing projects happening in the Glen Innes area - one was under a joint venture agreed between the Auckland Council and the Government in 2012 and wouldl be building at least 1800 homes across Tamaki, Panmure, Glen Innes and Point England.
The other was the removal and rebuilding of state houses by Housing New Zealand.
That project had faced opposition from some in the community, with protests being held against the removal of state houses in Glen Innes to make room for the development.