When the brand new social house came to Fred Fuji, he couldn't believe it.
"I told Kāinga Ora to ring me back. I was wondering, is this true or not?"
The move into a new social house has been life-changing.
He has spent five years living in a one-bedroom home
with seven other family members.
"We could never sit down and have dinner together. We could never do it as we do now. We had to keep the kids inside because the place was insecure for children."
Fuji told Local Focus his old home was not even as big as his new living room.
Today, Fuji enjoys even the most mundane household chores in his new home. And the best part is that he finally has his own space, a separate bedroom for himself.
There are 40 new Kāinga Ora homes on the Kauri Place site in Mahora, Hastings, which are fully tenanted.
Among them, Fuji's neighbour Marie Tuu shares a new home with her husband and five children.
Tuu and her family moved to New Zealand from Samoa in 2016.
They rented a house in Flaxmere until the landlord sold the house. They had nowhere to go and ended up in emergency housing.
The family of seven spent nearly three years living at Camberley Court Motel. Their youngest child, 3-year-old Sola, has grown up as part of the "motel generation".
Now, Sola is enjoying his newfound freedom, as these brand-new homes transform families' lives.
