Tenants moving in to the 10 new Kāinga Ora homes in Castor Crescent will be greeted by a Porirua “kia ora” welcome mat when they arrive.

Kāinga Ora Project Manager Matt Serle says the Kāinga Ora homes are ready and waiting for the first whānau to move in in early August.

“There’s an open home and community BBQ event on Friday 31 July from 4–6 pm and we invite the community to come and have a look around a couple of the homes,” he says.

Visitors, like the tenants, will be greeted with the welcome mat (made from coir found in coconut husks) and sourced from Porirua company Moana Road.   

Matt says that Kāinga Ora always likes to give an extra little touch to each of their new homes, and one of the welcome mats, initially gifted by Moana Road for creating the open home invitation, caught his eye.  

“Once I saw one of the kia ora welcome mats in front of the door of the first completed home, it was a natural choice to purchase them for all of the homes in Castor Crescent.

“Plus it’s always good to support a local business, especially one like Moana Road that’s eager to be part of things going on in the community,” he says.

Jane Ballentyne, Moana Road co-owner, said it’s great to be playing a part. “We’re happy to be involved in Porirua’s new housing development in some small way. As part of our local community, we encourage any new initiative that seeks to support the people of Porirua.

“We hope our doormats add a final welcoming touch to families as they walk in the door of their new, warm, healthy home,” says Jane.

A lemon tree has also been planted at each of the new homes, along with a small herb garden.

In total 53 new homes will be completed on the Castor Crescent site as part of Kāinga Ora’s Porirua Development, with the second lot (20 homes) and third lot (23 homes) set for completion later this year. There will be a range of different size homes (24 x 1 bedroom, 20 x 2 bedroom, 4 x 4 bedroom and 5 x 5 bedroom).

Work is also progressing well on the 14 one-bedroom homes in Champion, which are on track for completion later this year.

The Champion Street homes will also feature the kia ora mats, and the original mat, which Moana Road kindly gifted, will take up residence at Porirua Development’s Community Info Hub in Cannons Creek.