In this episode, we meet Jade Kake, architect, housing policy advocate, and writer based in Whangarei.

Jade trained in architecture and spent time working with a community housing provider in Australia before returning to Aotearoa. A conversation with family drew her into Te Matapihi and the world of Māori housing policy — and set the course for everything that followed. She has spent the years since analysing policy, advocating directly to central government, and making the case that good design should be accessible to everyone, not only the wealthy.

In this episode, Jade reflects on what colonisation means as a housing issue — not as background, but as the active, ongoing condition from which every conversation about Māori homelessness must begin. She talks about papakāinga, the decommodification of housing, and why the design of communities matters as much as the design of individual homes. And she shares her conviction that Māori, Pacific, and community housing providers are stronger together — and what that might actually look like in practice.

We'd like to thank Jade for taking the time to speak with us for this episode.

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The CHA Hub Podcast is sponsored by our Founding Partner, Westpac New Zealand.