The Salvation Army has a mission to tackle the chronic housing shortage in New Zealand, a project that will help families to turn their lives around.
The government, the Salvation Army and a combination of businesses are working together to create houses and hope for communities and today saw the opening of two newly built developments for social housing in Auckland.
“We've got homes that are for families today and we need to build for tomorrow,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
“This is still a housing crisis that we're in the thick of and we'll keep going until the needs are met.”
Waikeria Panapa has finally come off the housing register after six months. While it’s been tough living in transitional housing it was a sigh of relief after some good news for her small whanau.
“My baby was getting sick every week now because of the whare that we were in at the moment. We were struggling to keep him warm.”
The Salvation Army's kaitiakitanga project is part of an investment in new social housing.
However, it is only scratching the surface as more tenants are forced out of their rental homes by landlords in this housing market.
Housing Minister Megan Woods congratulates the Salvation Army for partnering with companies like Generate Kiwisaver, which has invested in the Salvation Army Bond through the impact-investing platform Community Finance.
“It's a really good rate of return for those bonds”, she says.