Kāinga Ora is keeping its promise to Aorere, as the first of hundreds of new homes are completed.

Public housing customers recently moved into five new homes on Mayflower Close, marking the first new builds to be finished as part of the large-scale project in Aorere.

In the first of five stages, almost 80 homes will be sold and 34 made available for public housing. The five newly-completed homes on Mayflower Close were built by Precision Construction.

“To me, this is quite a significant milestone,” said Dane Grey, Kāinga Ora Senior Development Manager.

“We removed older homes that were not very well-suited for our whānau these days. It’s great for us now to be able to replace them with new warm, dry homes that allow larger whānau to be able to live in them more comfortably.”

Kāinga Ora held an open home in September to show some of the features that will make the new homes more comfortable for families. The open home was one of the development’s accessible homes; designed and built for people with mobility issues or specific needs.

Getting into the home is made easier with ‘level access’ – where people who use wheelchairs or walking frames don’t have to step up into the entranceway. A timber deck with a ramp, and bathroom that can fit a wheelchair are other accessible home features.

Once work is completed in Aorere, the area will have up to 470 new homes. About 60% of these will be either affordable homes or those sold on the general market, and the remainder will be public housing.