Work to build nearly 50 new state houses across Hawke's Bay could be complete within just three months, Housing New Zealand says.
"Work has begun on some of these developments and we are looking to have people and families in these new homes by mid-year 2018", a Housing New Zealand spokesman said.
"The placement process will follow the normal procedure. We match applicants from the Ministry of Social Development's social housing register and always aim to match people and families with the highest priority for housing first."
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At the end of last year there were more than 400 Hawke's Bay residents registered on MSD's housing register. Of those, 134 applicants in Hastings were listed "Priority A" - those from households most in need of urgent placement - as were another 167 people in Napier.