4. Question No. 4—Housing (Māori Housing)DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) to the Associate Minister of Housing (Māori Housing)Question No. 4—Housing (Māori Housing)DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): I'm not sure who this Minister is sorry. SPEAKER: It's the Associate Minister of Housing (Māori Housing).4. DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori) to the Associate Minister of Housing (Māori Housing): Does he or she have concerns that homeownership is becoming unattainable for Māori given that Māori individual homeownership has fallen to 26 percent in the latest census and that European New Zealanders have net worth almost five times higher than Māori?SPEAKER: Just before the Minister answers if the member just reads a question as it is because we would have checked that it was going to the right Minister. Clearly another Minister is going to answer it.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing) on behalf of the Associate Minister of Housing (Māori Housing): Yes we do have concerns and that's why our Government is actively responding to falling Māori homeownership. We've made a start but there is much more work to do. In November 2018 Prime Minister Ardern established a targeted Māori housing ministerial portfolio. In July 2019 we established a Māori housing unit specifically to attend to Māori housing issues. In September 2019 we expanded eligibility for first-home products to include multigenerational families to ensure the scheme reflected Māori aspirations. In August 2020 we launched the Māori and Iwi Housing Innovation (MAIHI) - Framework for Action. Between the MAIHI Partnerships Programme and Te Puni Kōkiri we've enabled 269 houses in Māori-led developments across the country and infrastructure on 206 sites. Many of these are affordable houses targeted at homeownership for Māori. In July 2020 we launched the Progressive Home Ownership Fund which supports a dedicated iwi and Māori pathway to support homeownership through iwi and Māori organisations. And last month we launched the $3.8 billion Housing Acceleration Fund which will make funding available for critical infrastructure on iwi and whenua Māori land to enable housing for homeownership.Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Will the Government recognise the severe disadvantage that Māori face in the housing market and immediately introduce a Māori housing package that includes specific financial support schemes such as the old Māori Affairs loan in the past; if not why?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: I think I went through in my primary a number of initiatives. But over a number of Budgets since we have been in Government we can point to initiatives that have been targeted and specific to assisting Māori in housing and Māori into homeownership. So in Budget 2020 we had the $40 million for the MAIHI framework. In Budget 2019 we had a $40 million package for Māori housing. In Budget 2019 we also had $56 million specifically for the Whenua Māori Programme. And then of course we've had other schemes. I do look to previous schemes that we looked at when we came into Government such as the Kāinga Whenua Loan Scheme that was run and I think probably was replaced when the Māori Party were part of the Government and they'd only achieved 57 loans across 10 years—and we know we need to do better than that.Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Does the Minister have confidence in the Government's recently announced housing package when it doesn't include any specific policies targeted at increasing Māori homeownership?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Yes I do have confidence. What we have outlined in this House on a number of occasions now that we have secured the funding and made the arrangement is that we are now working with partners—and some of those partners are iwi and Māori organisations—to ensure that we can have an infrastructure package that unlocks the potential not only of Māori-owned land but whenua Māori land for housing options as well.Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: Does the Minister think it's acceptable that more than 11000 Māori are currently on the social housing register waiting list—49.6 percent of the entire waiting list—and that for many of our w'ānau housing affordability let alone homeownership is currently completely unattainable?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: No.