Whare Ora

For all our Whare Ora Assessments you must be:

• a registered with the Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust (TST).
• be the legal titled homeowner, residing in the address to be assessed,
• and your whare must be within our Tūwharetoa rohe (Taupō, Tūrangi, Taumarunui and the surrounding areas).

Your application maybe delayed, and we will send you an email response if

•  we cannot find you registered with TST in our database with options on how to register.
• if Land Information New Zealand shows the title is in a different name from that of the person applying, we will request additional information from you to prove ownership.
• if your whare is outside of our service area.

Aē, you can apply for this service if the whare is owned by a registered member of the Tūwharetoa Settlement Trust, within our Tūwharetoa rohe, and you can evidence ownership through a License to Occupy or Occupation Order.

However, if the home is owned and operated by a commercial entity this will be at our discretion and fees do apply.

Kāo.

The Whare Ora service is a Healthy Homes Assessment only. This will help you to identify critical repairs required only,

Whare Ora is an advice and advocacy service only.

Our kaiarahi will support you to complete external funding applications if you are eligible but have no say in the eligibility criteria.

As of October 2024, we have a trained Healthy Homes assessor full time within our team, this has meant we can now extend the rohe we cover to include Taumarunui and the surrounding areas.

Register Here https://www.tst.maori.nz/he-iwi-kainga-whare-ora/  and we will be in touch with a date and time for your assessment.

Aē, as part of our Whare Ora initial assessment visit, our assessor will provide immediate education on how you can improve the health of your home and what actions you can take as a whānau.

We also plan to run workshops on basic home maintenance and repair actions.

If this has been identified in your report an invitation will be sent to you directly, but these are also open for registered members to learn low-cost/no-cost options to maintain your home to reduce repairs required.

Check out our He Iwi Kāinga Wānanga Event Calendar for upcoming dates.

Our report provides a definition of what a “Healthy Home” should look like and covers the following areas:

• Roofing & Gutters
• Exterior & Cladding
• Glazing & Draughtproofing
• Insulation
• Plumbing & Drainage
• Electrical & Energy
• Internal
• Heating
• Extraction
• Safety and security

Aē, this area is included in our catchment.

We are limited to our immediate rohe for now and hope to expand out in the future.

We can look to connect you to a number of other providers who provide Healthy Homes Assessments in your area.

Kāo, our Whare Ora it is an assessment report only.

He Iwi Kāinga provides advice and advocacy only. Our team can work with you to develop a plan around the repairs and maintenance identified in the assessment, provide guidance with contractors and quotes and check the quality of the mahi undertaken after the repairs are completed.

He Iwi Kāinga has successfully helped 41 homeowners to receive funding from Te Puni Kōkiri and is actively coordinating this Repairs Project in our rohe for homes that have received a Whare Ora Assessment.

These repairs are fully funded by Te Puni Kōkiri and address those critical and important issues identified in the assessment.

We are guided by the criteria set out by Te Puni Kōkiri in which homes are eligible to receive the funding and focus on bringing whānau homes to a warm, dry and secure standard.

We will explore this funding with you once the assessment has taken place, however, cannot guarantee funding will be available moving forward.

Our Whare Ora services are not available to the tenants of a property or those in a rental agreement- you must be the homeowner. This also includes whānau in rent to buy situations.

As the homeowner you must also reside in the property and the home not used for commercial gain.

If the whare is in a Whānau Trust we will discuss this further with you to understand who is in the home and their relationship to the trust.

We do offer these Whare Ora Reports to commercial entities at a charge per home – please contact us directly by email heiwikainga@tst.maori.nz for a price list.