A social work agency with a reputation for successfully combating complex community problems, is this week launching a unique prison home to help lower the country's record high incarceration rate of Maori men.

The home, which opened today, in Tauranga is the first for the city.

Whare 4 Freedom is modelled on Te Tuinga Whanau's effective framework that provides transitional housing and support services for homeless families.

The agency houses 55 families across 12 houses and 10 motel rooms.

CEO of Te Tuinga Tommy Ka Pai Wilson says Whare 4 Freedom was born out of a desperate need in Tauranga to have a home for inmates to live in once they left prison.

'The incarceration rate of Maori men is distressing, and they are most likely to reoffend if they don't have a base where they can start over from.

'Ex-prisoners have been arriving on our doors at Te Tuinga Whanau with nowhere to go, no networks and no one to turn to. We also need to protect victims by doing all we can to help ex inmates integrate back into the community.”

He says they are transferring their learnings of 30 years of working with the most vulnerable communities into the new project.

'The research tells us that if you can connect people back into their whanau, iwi and communities when they have served their time, it can minimise the chances of reoffending by 50 percent, turning former inmates on a path of rehabilitation instead of falling back into the same old cycle of offending.”

The men will stay for up to six months while accessing support services to help with health, budgeting and employment.

'This framework looks at integrating former inmates back into the community and ultimately giving them a feeling of belongingness. The whare will only house four men and will not accept any offender against children.

'We only welcome men who are committed to change and agree to fully engage in the programme.”