My Fale home ownership workshops held

• Published date: 05 April 2024
• Publication title: Oamaru Mail

It hosted The Mortgage Hub, former All Black Mils Muliaina’s mortgage advice company, to run one of its My Fale workshops last week

It aims to improve the financial literacy of the Pasifika community as well as help them along their journey to owning a home.

Almost 20 people came to the workshop and more than 30 people were seen by The Mortgage Hub team for one-on-one sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

OPICG operations manager Silou Temoana was the driving force behind the workshops being held in Oamaru.

The idea came from a survey she ran in 2020 which had found that only one-third of participants owned their own home, OPICG general manager Hana Halalele said.

It aligned with the OPICG’s strategic plan to increase home ownership to ‘‘at least two-thirds’’ in the coming years.

The workshop opened a lot of people’s eyes to how attainable owning their own home could be, Mrs Temoana said.

‘‘Some of them realised it isn’t so hard to get into that space of knowing about the information for first homeowners. It’s just the fear of getting into it.’’

All four of The Mortgage Hub team were Pasifika and that helped people feel comfortable in the one-on-one sessions, Ms Halalele said.

‘‘They’re quite relatable; they can speak in our different languages.’’

Mr Muliaina said the ‘‘ultimate goal’’ was to empower people to own their own homes.

‘‘It’s just...