Couple switching from building fitness to building emergency homes for whānau

Housing Emergency Aotearoa is providing temporary housing for whānau. Photo / Whakaata Māori

Verdine and Charity Smith created Housing Emergency Aotearoa to provide temporary housing for whānau who would otherwise be displaced and living away from their homeland.

After owning a CrossFit gym for more than 10 years, the couple decided to switch barbells for hammers – building homes for 10 families in the Hawke’s Bay region by the end of this month.

“We spoke to a few whānau down there that were living in the area and it was all about finding whānau that needed it the most and connect that way, and then we put together those family names there,” Verdine Smith says.

Whānau are kept warm and dry in this type of emergency housing while they repair their homes. Photo / Housing Emergency Aotearoa

They were self-funded at first but received financial support from the Red Cross after becoming a charitable trust.

“Very, very grateful for that. It would’ve been really tough for us to sell assets and keep that funding going, so with that funding that Red Cross provided, we were able to get these whare out to whānau.”

Roy Pewhairangi from the small town of Waiohiki was one of the first to get a container home after his niece found him living in his caravan.

“She said ‘oh no no no, you need a cabin, so she hooked me up with Verdine and that’s how I got a Red Cross cabin, and I got the third one that he built,” he said.

“When we first came back, we had no power and no water,” his nephew Tainui Greeks says.

“So we were really just trying to get our houses back up and running again.”

Smith says there is no maximum time for a whānau to be in their container home. Rather they run by an “as long as you need it” policy.

“Once there is no need for them, then the idea is that we move the whare from them and pass it along to someone who needs it.”