National Environmental Standards for Papakāinga 2026

Papakāinga are communal housing developments on ancestral land that enable whānau to live together, often alongside shared facilities, cultural activities, and community infrastructure.

Many district plans make it difficult to develop papakāinga. Common barriers include:

• limits on building more than one home on a site
• lengthy and costly resource consent processes
• restrictions on activities such as community facilities or small businesses.

The NES-P addresses these barriers by reducing unnecessary consenting requirements and providing clear, enabling rules. This will support Māori land owners to:

• build homes for whānau
• live communally on ancestral land consistent with traditional Māori culture
• develop intergenerational assets such as shared facilities and spaces.

The NES-P applies across all of New Zealand and provides councils with consistent rules that support papakāinga while still managing environmental effects. The NES-P provides permitted activity pathway for smaller developments that meet certain conditions, while also providing a consent pathway for papakāinga that do not meet the permitted activity requirements activities. This ensures papakāinga can be enabled in a consistent way nationwide. 

The NES-P supports: 

• More housing on Māori land to increase supply of affordable, quality homes 
• Stronger cultural connections to enable whānau to live in accordance with their tikanga  
• Māori land development and use to support land owners to make decisions about how they use their land 
• Economic and community wellbeing to support intergenerational living and local economic activity.

These outcomes contribute to improving housing outcomes for Māori and supporting Treaty obligations. 

How the NES-Papākainga works 

The NES-P introduces consistent rules that apply directly in all districts. It applied only on Māori land (as defined in Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 2023) and certain types of Māori-owned general land.  

These rules override district plan provisions, unless the local rules are more enabling. The NES-P works alongside regional plan rules, district plan provisions for matters such as natural hazards, heritage and infrastructure, and the Building Act, which all continue to apply to help ensure safe and sustainable development. 

Permitted activities 

In most rural, residential, and Māori purpose zones, papakāinga development is permitted (i.e. can be done without a resource consent) if it meets certain standards, including: 

• up to 10 residential units on Māori ancestral land
• associated non-residential activities, including:
  • small-scale commercial activities
  • visitor accommodation (limited scale)
  • education and health services
  • Māori cultural activities, such as marae, urupā and māra kai.

Permitted Activities must also meet standards

Permitted papakāinga developments must meet key standards to ensure development is safe, enduring and environmental effects are managed. These include:

• site coverage limits 
• setback distances 
• compliance with relevant district plan rules for: 
  • wastewater and water supply
  • natural hazards
  • noise and lighting
  • earthworks and infrastructure

If permitted activity standards aren’t met, developments require consent 

While the NES-P enables a permitted activity pathway, if the conditions are not met, then a resource consent will be required. Most applications will be processed as restricted discretionary activities, meaning councils focus only on specific issues. This might occur when:

• developments exceed 10 homes
• standards (above) are not met
• additional or larger-scale activities are proposed
• the development is on land owned by a Post-Settlement Governance Entity, in their area of interest
• more than 50% of the development is for non-residential buildings The development is not in a residential, rural or Māori purpose zone.

What this means for Māori land owners 

The NES-P makes it easier to: 

• build multiple homes on a single block of Māori land
• develop papakāinga without needing resource consent (in many cases) or with a more consistent consenting process
• include supporting community and cultural activities

The NES-P will reduce time, cost, and uncertainty, while still ensuring development is safe and environmentally responsible. 

What this means for councils 

Councils must: 

• apply the NES-P rules directly to resource consents once it comes into force
• update district plans to remove conflicts or duplication
• continue to manage environmental effects through relevant plan rules

Councils are responsible for implementing and enforcing the NES-P.