For decades people have been shifting to Auckland for the houses, but yesterday an Orakei house began a journey about 360km away to the people.
In a bid to meet housing needs in other parts of the country, Housing New Zealand shifts state houses from Auckland to Northland, the East
Cape and the eastern Bay of Plenty as part of its rural housing programme.
But the Orakei project is one of the biggest. Andrews Housemovers, which is spending three days moving the house, said this was one of the furthest distances it had ever moved a state house. The house was lifted on to a truck yesterday ahead of the long and slow journey to Opotiki. Once there, it will be renovated and begin a new life as a rural rental property.
The whole process to make the house liveable again takes a month to six weeks.
Using a huge crane, the shift is costing about half what demolition would be because the house was on a difficult, steep section.
"They [the houses] are not wasted. We are the largest recycler in the country," Andrews Housemovers owner Gary Andrews said.
Mr Andrews said the programme was fantastic and rewarding.
"To build a house in some of the places we are taking them, people are waiting years. Under this system, if it's done right, I suppose there have been an extra hundred families housed in the past year."
Mr Andrews said his company was one of several contractors moving houses around the country.
He estimated three houses a night were being moved between the contractors, but Andrews itself had once moved four in one night.
Housing NZ spokesman Tom Bridgman said the programme was about improving housing in some of New Zealand's more deprived areas and began about four years ago after a series of house fires in Northland.
"It is a mix of responses, all of which are designed to overcome some of the severe housing problems in isolated rural areas," he said.
A number of other Housing New Zealand houses had been moved from the path of State Highway 20 in Auckland for new lives in Northland.
- additional reporting: Stuart Dye
