More whānau will own their own homes by 2019 under a new agreement between Housing NZ and Waikato-Tainui.
Tanita Whitiora and her whānau's dreams have come true.
“I own it. It's warm and it just provides us with everything we need," declares Tanita.
She says it took 15 months to go through the process of the buying their home and it wasn't easy.
The house cost $137,000 in Huntly.
Tanita says she had to attend a couple of workshops with Waikato-Tainui and liaise with a mortgage broker who approached financial avenues for them while still working and raising a family.
“Due to the RFR programme, it made if affordable for me and my whānau to buy a house.”
Waikato-Tainui is now negotiating its first housing development partnership on a Hamilton site with Housing NZ.
Marae Tukere, deputy chair of Te Ara Taura says, “When our settlement happened, we negotiated to right to have the first bid on land and assets that were no longer required by the Crown and Jebson Place fell into that category.
So we obtained this land with the purpose of developing it for housing.”
Housing New Zealand want to build at least 26 homes at the site.
Waikato-Tainui plans to build 45 homes for tribal members and the market.
The whānau wants to renovate their home later this year and use it as equity to purchase another property.
Waikato-Tainui will look to purchase other sites within the region in the future that will be earmarked for affordable housing.