Feature article
Breaking the rental cycle — a real rent-to-own story
How Holly secured a home for her whānau through Habitat for Humanity’s rent-to-own programme
Last updated: 4 March 2025
AI summary
This inspiring story follows a Waikato family's journey with Habitat for Humanity's rent-to-own programme. Despite debt and no family history of owning, they educated themselves and successfully applied.
The programme features reduced rent with a portion saved for a deposit, a locked-in purchase price, and a "sweat equity" requirement of 500 volunteer hours. This provides a clear path to securing a mortgage after five years, breaking a generational cycle and creating a new future for their whānau.
From roadblocks to possibilities
Breaking a generational cycle
Rent-to-own makes it possible
Only the first step on the property ladder
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