"A system that has marginalised Māori for decades and is the result of Māori dispossession since the nineteenth century."
That's the opening remarks from a report into Māori homelessness that has found they've been marginalised for decades - and the Crown has breached its Treaty of Waitangi obligations.
And now, claimants are calling for a Māori Housing Authority to remedy the complex issue.
The doors of Te Puea Memorial Marae in Māngere Bridge have remained open since bringing the homelessness crisis to national attention back in 2016.
Marae chairperson Hurimoana Dennis reflected on the past in an interview with Newshub.
"If we didn't open our doors when we did, you do have to think what is it that we would've had," he said.
Dennis, and 83-year-old kaumatua Mona Kingi, have been at the coalface, and to date have helped almost 650 families.
"We got them off the street because that was Princess Te Puea's forte. She used to look after a hundred children," Kingi told Newshub.
Dennis told Newshub it has been totally worth it.
"When you take the kids to their whare, and they jump around their new rooms - that's a big part of it, that's a real good payback for us."
Dennis has helped with almost 80 claims in the first stage of the Tribunal's inquiry into housing policy and services (as applied between 2009 and 2021).
He says the Crown breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi mirrors everything he's seen.
"Coordination, knowing the problem, who's leading, who's not, systems, policy failures, big gaps," Dennis listed.
More than 100,000 people are homeless in Aotearoa, and 60 percent of them are Māori.
The 200-page report, called Kāinga Kore (Homelessness) shows the failure of successive Governments to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, with calls by Māori that the creation of a Māori Housing Authority is critical.
Wayne Knox, general manager of Māori housing advocacy group Te Matapihi, wants to explore what that would involve.
"And what a Māori-led approach - as opposed to a government-led approach - would look like," he added.
Knox told Newshub that a Māori Housing Authority would increase accountability in the housing sector and allow Māori to find their own solutions.
He says it's time for the government to step aside.
"We need to find a balance so that whatever is created doesn't create more bureaucracy, but actually helps more resources be targeted effectively to meet the needs of whānau."
Housing Minister Megan Woods, alongside the associate ministers Willie Jackson and Marama Davidson, acknowledged past injustices.
"For Māori, this is a situation that has been made much worse by the failure of successive governments to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi," said Davidson.
She argues everyone in Aotearoa should have a secure, warm, stable, and affordable home, whether they rent or buy.
"But right now thousands of whānau do not have a permanent place to live," she said.
Jackson said the Government will consider the findings and recommendations in the Tribunal's report.
Woods said the recent boost to Māori Housing with MAIHI Ka Ora has seen the tide turning.
"So far, we have approved or contracted 1018 homes, 1615 infrastructure sites, and 415 repairs to homes," she added.
"Cabinet will obviously need to take the time to review this report in full and decide next steps. But it should now be clear to anyone that we have work to do."
And while that happens, Dennis still worries about agency collaboration.
"[I'm] still a little bit concerned around the awkward marriage between MHUD (Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, MSD (Ministry of Social Development) and Kāinga Ora," he said.
He says there's still more work ahead, but for now, Te Puea Marae remains an important home base for the homeless.
The Kāinga Kore inquiry will move into the main part of its hearing programme in 2024.
