27 May 2021
Brendon Mills
[FYI request #15024 email]
Dear Mr Mills
Thank you for your request of 29 March 2021 to Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities
for the following information under the Official Information Act 1982:
“…a detailed list of home ownership assistance programs, i.e. Family Benefit
capitalization, Housing Corp loans, Maori Affairs loans that were available to
individuals and families from 1945 (after WWII) to 1992 (when they were all
abolished)”
Below I have listed home ownership programmes administered by Kāinga Ora
predecessor organisations between 1945 and 1992. Please note that this may not be a
comprehensive list due to the historical nature of your request and that the information is
not centrally held.
Family Benefit Capitalisation: Made it possible for a tenant to buy a state house
without any initial outlay of capital (1959-1986)
Home Ownership Savings Scheme/ Homestart Deposit Scheme: Home
Ownership Savings Act 1974 established Home Ownership Accounts to
encourage savings for home ownership. Benefits included a purchase grant and
an interest subsidy (1974-1991)
Housing Corporations Mortgage Guarantee Scheme: Aimed at reducing the
cost of mortgage finance and the amount of deposit required, and to encourage
the private sector to provide loans for housing (1977-1991)
Equity Share Loans – scheme accessible to borrowers with low incomes, and
required borrowers to fund a portion of the purchase price (1985-1991)
Papakāinga loans – product to help people own homes on multiply-owned Māori
land. Since 2009 this has been part of the Mortgage Insurance Scheme as Kāinga
Whenua loans (1985-2009)
General Residential Lending – introduced for first homes buyers as lending of
last resort. Between 1996 and 1999, these loans were sold to Mortgage Services
Limited and the Home Mortgage Company Limited (both subsidiaries of Westpac
Bank).
You might like to know that numerous home ownership programmes have been available
since 1992. The Ministry of Social Development provides a detailed chronology of social
assistance policies and programmes from 1844-2019 on its website, which includes those
related to home ownership assistance programmes.
You can find this at: https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/about-
msd/history/social-assistance-chronology-programme-history.html.
Kāinga Ora currently manages several home ownership products, including the First
Home Loan, First Home Grant, and Kāinga Whenua Loans. You can find more information
about these products on the Kāinga Ora website at https://kaingaora.govt.nz/home-
ownership/.
Yours sincerely
Gabby Boag
Team Leader Government Relations
