Family of five ‘overwhelmed’ with new Habitat home

Kate Russell

There will be no more living in a cold, damp rental for a Stoke family of five, who were handed the keys to their brand-new Habitat home last week.

Tita and Veni Lupeituu, along with their children Eseta 8, Sione 7, and Melelua 5, are one of 14 families to move into Habitat for Humanity Nelson’s latest development on Main Rd Stoke, which was officially dedicated to its new residents last Wednesday.

“We were renting an older house, it was very cold during the winter with mould and moisture on the windows. Our kids were getting constantly sick,” Tita says. She says they are the first in their family to own a home in New Zealand.

“It’s amazing, overwhelming actually. Our plan was to get a house, but we knew we were not eligible to ask for a bank loan. We didn’t have enough saved in KiwiSaver, so we knew they wouldn’t even consider us.”

Twelve of the families will pay affordable rent over several years before they transition to buying their homes through Habitat’s Progressive Home Ownership (PHO) programme.

The other two homes on the site will be rented out at affordable prices.

Tita says if they hadn’t been accepted for the PHO programme, their goal of owning a home would be a distant dream.

“This is life-changing. We are helping our kids with a stable and safe future.”

Tita and Veni both work full-time as bakers, which can be hard to juggle with three children.

“We’ve been working different shifts so at least one of us can take care of the kids, while the other one either sleeps after a shift or works. I saw my husband only one day a week and we were constantly tired.” But now, with an affordable rental and a fixed target, she says there’s no stress anymore.

“The rent is not going to increase every year, it stays the same until we want to change it.”

Tita says their kids were quick to choose their rooms and already have ideas for how they want to decorate them.

The community of semi-detached two and three-bedroom homes has been designed to encourage neighbourliness, with communal gardens, shared barbeques, and a children’s play area.

“It’s a great environment, safe, dry, and warm. A great place for kids, close to the school, library, parks, shops - and it’s also a community,” says Tita.

“All the kids are already getting to know each other. They are creating natural connections.”

The rent that families pay at the beginning of their PHO journey is affordable, but it’s up to families if they want to increase and thus save more.

Families pay the equivalent of fair market rent determined by their total gross household income. This allows local households to enter an affordable rental programme with secure tenure for at least five years, until refinancing and taking ownership of their own home.

There were 88 applicants for the development, however, another eight homes will be built on a section next door.