Offering healthy, long-term rental homes to people that others might exclude.
In 2019, there were 12,000 people on the Housing Register in Aotearoa New Zealand.
By 2024, that number has increased to over 22,000, with more than 1,000 of those registered living in Te Tai Tokerau Northland.
What can WE do about it?
In Aotearoa New Zealand the opportunity for security, peace and social support is more easily experienced by homeowners than those living in rental accommodation. Being able to send your child to the same local school for the length of their school years has become a privilege. Many disadvantaged families cannot secure a long-term affordable tenancy meaning they lose community relationships, the stability of schools and the social support of neighbours with every house move.
We believe the whole community suffers as a result of this transiency.
Over the past four years, we have gathered real stories from real people across both the lower and middle income whānau and we have found that housing is not just a problem brought about by “poor life choices”, as many are led to believe. Across Aotearoa New Zealand, both government and private entities have failed to provide enough long-term stable housing options for these families.
We believe it is the responsibility of the government AND us as everyday individuals to turn this around.
Tambourine is doing - what we can with what we have - to help restore people’s connection to each other and their community by providing healthy long-term rental homes. We take a collaborative approach to community engagement and work alongside trusted local organisations that support young people, their families (whānau), and communities. Through these partnerships, we are able to prioritise families who might otherwise be overlooked, ensuring they not only have a home but also access to the support networks they may need to maintain stable, long-term tenancies.
Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi. With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive.
We are small in size and recognise our efforts might equate to a single drop in an ocean of need. Nonetheless, we are on a mission to contribute what we can - one home at a time. As well as supporting partners overseas, Tambourine wants to be part of the solutions for justice where we are, here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Growing out of who we are and our values, providing healthy long-term rental homes for people that others might exclude has become a major Tambourine project.
Currently, we have three homes in Whangārei and are in the resource consent phase to build six more new homes - ready in 2025!
Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu - Although it might look like a little, it is very precious.
“I just held out hope and I feel like they literally answered my prayers and came just in the nick of time, I don’t know how long I could’ve kept myself going but thanks to Tambourine and Whangārei PropertyScouts the skys the limit to what I feel I can achieve now, and also thanks to them we are settled enough that I’m working again and the kids are in stable schooling and we couldn’t be happier. ”
Pepe’s journey…
"When one in every hundred people is homeless, half of whom are under 25 years; when thousands are living in vehicles or housed in motels provided by the State; when houses are in such disrepair that they cause otherwise preventable illness and disease; and when middle-income earners are finding it difficult to afford an accessible and decent home, the result is not just a housing crisis, it is a human rights crisis of significant proportions."
Leilani Farha, UN special rapporteur on adequate housing.