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Te Āhuru Mōwai To Build 10 Affordable Rental Homes In Paekākāriki

Te Āhuru Mōwai To Build 10 Affordable Rental Homes In Paekākāriki

Scoop30-04-2025

Press Release – Te Ahuru Mowai
Te huru Mwai is funding the project with Affordable Housing Grant support from Te Tpapa Kura Kinga Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. The balance of the development cost is borrowings, provided by Te huru Mwai funding partner, …
New Zealand's largest Māori-owned Community Housing Provider (CHP), Te Āhuru Mōwai, is pleased to announce the development of 10 new affordable rental homes on Beach Rd, Paekākāriki. The project aims to increase the supply of quality rental housing for local whānau at 'below market' prices.
'We are looking forward to providing new homes to whānau in Paekākāriki,' said Te Āhuru Mōwai CEO James Te Puni. 'We will be offering these homes with a 20 percent discounted rental price to make them more accessible to a wider number of whānau.
Te Āhuru Mōwai is funding the project with Affordable Housing Grant support from Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga – Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. The balance of the development cost is borrowings, provided by Te Āhuru Mōwai funding partner, the Community Housing Finance Agency (CHFA).
Kāpiti Coast District Council's (KCDC) Community and Affordable Housing Seed Fund supported the initial assessment of the whenua, geotechnical, and wastewater management approach. This was one of several factors that influenced Te Āhuru Mōwai 's decision to build in Paekākāriki over other locations.
Te Āhuru Mōwai is owned by Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira and has also engaged with the Paekākāriki Housing Trust (PHT) to seek guidance during the planning stages. PHT's co-chairs, Daphne Eriksen and Tina Pope, confirmed the Trust's support for the project, saying, 'we are pleased to see this development as it increases the supply of quality housing for local whānau and does so at a discounted rental. The cost of housing is a serious problem, and families are leaving the village because it's so unaffordable. It's great to see a mix of homes in the development, including two kaumātua houses.'
KCDC also expressed their support for the project. Mayor Janet Holborow said 'the Community and Affordable Housing Seed Fund was established to encourage community-led housing opportunities in our district, I am excited to see that this initiative is already helping to make a difference towards addressing housing need in our wider community.'
Mr Te Puni said he is hopeful that these new homes will be completed and tenanted by November 2026, and that the community will benefit from them for many years to come.
An information sharing hui with locals will be at 6pm, Wednesday May 7, at St Peters Village Hall, Paekākāriki.

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It also includes making sure the language associated with those on the watchlist is specific to reflect the 'serious' alleged offending that led to their inclusion. If triggered by a trespass order, they were urged to drill down into what led to the trespass as not all would qualify for inclusion in a facial recognition watchlist. Once you're on a watchlist, how do you get off? The OPC was strict on how a watchlist operated - as was Foodstuffs NI in its trial. The OPC found the watchlists to be 'of reasonable quality and carefully controlled'. There was a separate watchlist for each store, apparently so as not to shut an alleged offender out of all places locally that might sell food. The watchlist could only be added to by staff with specific training. As noted earlier, inclusion on the list was for serious matters - not 'low-level' shoplifting. The OPC defined serious as 'physical and verbal assault, violent and threatening behaviour and higher value theft'. To be added to the watchlist, it required two staff members to confirm that the required level had been met. When it came to keeping people's information stored, those who didn't register an alert were instantly deleted. Those who did would be kept for a maximum two years with three months for accomplices. The watchlist also had those who were not allowed to be added such as children or young people under 18, the elderly and those with 'known mental health conditions'. Will police use the same technology? Police have so far ruled out the use of live facial recognition. In a recent assessment - August 2024 - it said 'the overall risks currently outweigh the potential benefits in the policing context'. It offered the view that it couldn't proceed until there was better knowledge around the ethical, legal, privacy and security elements of its use. That's not to say police officers don't use facial recognition it because they do - but not as a live tool. Rather, it uses it to match images of unknown offenders on a range of databases to see if a match can be made. With the publication of the largely positive OPC inquiry, Minister of Police Mark Mitchel and Police Commissioner Richard Chambers were enthusiastic. The statements made by each were effusive about its use by retailers rather than reflecting on any police use. Mitchell talked up crime reduction figures touted by Foodstuffs NI while Chambers enthused about technology as 'one of the biggest opportunities we have as a country … when it comes to fighting crime'. Chambers comments focused on retailers and how best they might use facial recognition for 'deterring, detecting and resolving crime'. The OPC's reminders of the primacy of police in this space and the police's enthusiasm for retailers to adopt the technology is an interesting contrast. Will we see more of this across other stores? Almost certainly. Live facial recognition technology is highly likely to be commonplace across New Zealand retail spaces. That's definitely the aim of Sunny Kaushal, spokesman for the Ministerial Advisory Group for the Victims of Retail Crime. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, centre, with Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee and Ministerial Advisory Group chair Sunny Kaushal. Photo / Ben Dickens The advisory group is working up a report for Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith on the subject although Kaushal has made it clear where its thinking is at. 'Retail crime is a $2.8 billion dollar problem and is paid for by every retailer and customer in New Zealand. Retailers need access to every tool that can help them to keep themselves and their businesses safe - including facial recognition technology." 'Privacy is important, but we need rules that recognise the right of every New Zealander to be safe from violent crime at work.' Goldsmith was effusive about the Foodstuffs NI trial following the release of the OPC report, calling it great news for those subject to retail crime. 'I expect our Ministerial Advisory Group will continue to look at this technology as an option to be used more widely and engage with the sector on it. What comes next? The OPC is preparing to publish its guidance on biometric systems. That will include facial recognition but also consider other means by which people are identified and tracked, from eye scanning through to computer analysis and tracking of the way people walk. And Goldsmith is expecting to receive a report from the retail advisory group. As indicated above, the sector is bullish over a wider rollout of the technology. David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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