A partnership delivers long-awaited stability for local families
Eighteen Pasifika families received keys to new homes in eastern Porirua this week through a shared-ownership arrangement between Westpac NZ and Central Pacific Collective.
The Our Whare Our Fale development marks the first phase of a planned 300-home community by 2030, with 32 additional homes scheduled for construction next year. Westpac NZ provided mortgages to all 18 homeowners through the shared-ownership agreements.
Under the arrangement, Central Pacific Collective contributed up to 40% of each house’s purchase price, with homeowners able to buy out the organisation over time. Westpac supports the arrangement with standard mortgages.
Fa’amatuainu Tino Pereira, chief executive of Central Pacific Collective, said collaboration had been critical to reach this point.
“Enabling Our Whare Our Fale has been a journey of many years and we’re grateful to everyone who’s been involved,” Pereira said. “We are not just building homes; we are building hope, stability, and belonging for generations to come.”
Helen Ryder, Westpac NZ managing director of consumer banking and wealth, said the bank had worked with Central Pacific Collective for several years on the scheme’s design.
The development targets a significant gap in home ownership. Census data from 2023 showed 19.9% of Pasifika people in Aotearoa owned their own home, compared with 66% of all New Zealanders.
“We want to help make a difference so it’s really positive to be working with Central Pacific Collective on a development of this scale,” Ryder said.
Village-inspired design anchors new community
The development draws inspiration from Pasifika villages, featuring two, three and four-bedroom dwellings designed for intergenerational living. All homes face a central communal fale available for community gatherings, support services, and celebrations.
Solar panels throughout the development provide community solar power to support lower ongoing power costs for homeowners.
Central Pacific Collective was founded as a charitable trust in 2014 to support Pasifika health service providers in the central North Island. Its purpose has since expanded to improve the general wellbeing of Pasifika people, including through housing provision.
In 2023, the Westpac NZ Government Innovation Fund provided a grant to support the development’s physical design.
New homeowner Erin Millar said the opportunity represented a significant change for her family.
“After meeting the CPC team and learning about Our Whare Our Fale, I started to think that homeownership could actually be possible for me,” Millar said. “The answer had always been ‘no’, but this is a life changing moment for me. In the last eight years we’ve had to move four times. Our new home will bring stability, and certainty to me and my whānau.”
