Jan Tinetti Labour MP

My taxi driver said to me the other day: 'Jan, we would really love to own our own home.” At present he and his family are living on a local camping ground. It felt so good to say to him that he could now register for a KiwiBuild home.

New Zealanders across the country are backing KiwiBuild, with more than 35,000 signing up already at: www.kiwibuild.govt.nz, including 4335 in Tauranga alone.

We all know that a massive housing crisis has struck this country over the last decade. This government is determined to fix it.

Buying a KiwiBuild home works like this. First, when you register with KiwiBuild, you'll get updates on developments right here in Tauranga.

Next, from August, you can ‘pre-qualify' online, by showing you are eligible to buy a KiwiBuild home, and that you have bank finance in place.

Then, when a KiwiBuild home comes up that you like, you enter the ballot. If you win, you can complete the purchase and move into your new home. You can enter as many ballots as you like, but you can only buy one KiwiBuild home.

It's really exciting to see this huge project starting to gain momentum and public support. By the end of the year, the first families will own their KiwiBuild homes.

As more and more homes are built, we're going to see more and more people and families have a place of their own. That's going to be a great thing for our community.