Te Whāriki Manawāhine o Hauraki chief executive Denise Messiter. Photo: Supplied / Sparks Consulting
Hauraki women have recounted harrowing stories of domestic violence and poverty in new research by Te Whāriki Manawāhine o Hauraki - Hauraki Women's Refuge.
The report - He Whare, He Taonga - was based on interviews with 23 wāhine Māori.
They told researchers they feared their tamariki would be uplifted by state agencies, recounted an increase of violence during the Covid-19 pandemic and Cyclone Gabrielle, and said they had to sleep in cars with multiple children.
The report said the women also experienced "societal violence" through engagement with government agencies.
"In many ways, this engagement had a much greater impact [on their lives] than the violence they experience at home," the report said.
Te Whāriki Manawāhine o Hauraki chief executive Denise Messiter said the research proved a direct link between domestic violence and housing poverty.
"We have been able to show what the connection is and what the underlying contributing factors are across systemic discrimination across state agencies," she said.
"The women that shared their stories talked about having compassionate solutions, so our call to action is working with government agencies who are making key decisions in the housing system to work with us to implement the compassionate solutions that will solve housing poverty here in Hauraki."
The report said government agencies used the threat of child removal as leverage to force women to relocate away from their home areas and made them vulnerable and fearful.
"They fear their tamariki being uplifted... they're better off being invisible than seen," the report said.
It said wāhine Maori were often unreasonably held accountable and financially burdened for damages to a house caused by their partner or ex-partner.
Wāhine and their children were frequently subjected to abrupt evictions from Kāinga Ora properties without adequate notice or justification and compelled to accept housing options that increased their risk of violence, the report said.
It found private housing was also tenuous, with participants saying they were repeatedly turned down by prospective landlords.
"My housing situation has continuously moved because of selling and unstable housing. I've tried getting a housing New Zealand house, a Kāinga Ora home. Still on the waiting list after 2 years," a woman said.
"The one homeowner that I did meet, I got the feeling he saw that I was Māori and kind of was like, can we just make this quick. Never heard from him again. My nights are spent crying, because my family has stopped living," said another.
"I was a worker then, so I was working at a restaurant as well as trying to support my daughter, as well as trying to find housing. The beginning was a very hard journey. I watched 10 houses go to Aucklanders: out-of-towners...and watched people move in them to my sadness. And I slept in the car," said another
The women recounted incidents of domestic violence.
"He broke into the house. He broke the windows, the phones, and my toe. He tried to make me lose the baby by punching me in the stomach then we ended up being taken to the hospital and then to the safe house where I stayed there for a few. The police were involved and then didn't allow me and my daughter to go home... Then I was given notice to move and the due date for me to move out was when I was due to have baby," one woman said.
They also talked about the need for change and the importance of whanau and support.
"My children have often asked me, 'Mama, why don't we go to [town]', and my response to that is that the most important gift that I can give them, is an intimate relationship with their Nanny, with their Koro, with their Aunties, with their uncles, with their cousins - so we all grow up as one," one of the research participants said.
"We want our whānau closer, but we can't because there's no housing here in Hauraki," another said.
The report, He Whare, He Taonga, officially launched in Thames today.
He Whare, He Taonga was funded by the now defunct National Science Challenges at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.