Trust's helping hand makes families at home
A charitable trust backed by The Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall says it could help beat the recession by building affordable houses - if it gets support from the Government or other funders.
The Housing Foundation, set up with a $1 million grant from the Tindall Foundation, has borrowed $6.5 million from state-owned Housing NZ and raised a further $18.5 million from commercial sources to build 70 new homes on a 4ha block of former farmland off West Coast Rd in Glen Eden.
Bank officer Terence Smith, his wife Belinda and their 4-month-old son Daniel are among the first 11 families who moved into new "shared equity" homes on the site just before Christmas.
They put up 80 per cent of the cost of about $400,000 for their four-bedroom house - a $10,000 deposit and the rest from a mortgage.
The remaining 20 per cent stake in the house stays with the Housing Foundation until the Smiths can afford to buy it out. In effect, it is like an interest-free second mortgage.
To read the full NZ Herald story click here
Posted: 19 Feb 2009
News articles
Browse articles
by date