Two Tauranga whānau took their first step towards home ownership, receiving the keys to their new homes through Habitat for Humanity’s rent-to-buy Progressive Home Ownership system last week.
A dedication ceremony took place for the three-bedroom houses at Sanctuary Point in Tauranga on Friday, 9 December, before the families took possession of their new homes and began the rental phase of their Progressive Home Ownership journey.
“It’s always an exciting moment when you hand the keys over to a family and it dawns on them that this house is their new home,” said Habitat Central Region Chief Executive Nic Greene.
“These families have often been living in unsuitable housing situations and wouldn’t otherwise be able to achieve their home ownership goals without some support. We’re proud to partner with our Progressive Home Ownership families, offering affordable rental payments and ongoing support to help them on the path to becoming homeowners.”
Knowing they’d been accepted for a Habitat house still feels ‘out of this world’ for partner family Aline and Andrew.
“It’s still like a dream, there’s so many times we’ve had to pinch ourselves and ask ‘is this really happening?’” Aline said.
Moving into a new, healthy home will have a big impact on the family of four. Warm and dry living conditions are essential for Andrew, a cancer survivor who underwent a successful double lung transplant, and their daughter, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
For Deearn and Stuart, moving into their Habitat house offers security of tenure and the ability to move forwards financially.
“For us, it definitely means a brighter future,” Deearn said. “That’s massive for us, and for our children. It’s indescribable in words – there’s a lot of emotions.”
Habitat partnered with Venture Developments to build three houses at Sanctuary Point.
Habitat is currently accepting expression of interest from families for an upcoming build located at West Dune, Papamoa.
