Fashion Week puts family in new home

Fredarh Salamo works on painting while others work on her Habitat house that fashion designer Trelise Cooper has supported during Fashion Week. Photo / Greg Bowker

She lives in a garage on her mother's property with her three children - a space that is mostly taken up by beds.

But by Saturday night, Fredarh Salamo will have a new four-bedroom home built as part of a charity project involving 240 female volunteers.

The home is being built on Auckland's viaduct by Habitat for Humanity in a Fashion Week project headed by designer Trelise Cooper.

Ms Salamo, who works in Mangere, was selected for the project after volunteering her own time to help build a house in a similar project in Tuakau this year.

Yesterday, an emotional Ms Salamo hammered home the first nail of the new house as building got under way.

Ms Salamo will live in the home with her three children Angela, 12, Vinnie, 9, and Geana, 4. Habitat for Humanity is an international charity which aims to eliminate substandard housing by offering a "hand-up, not a hand-out".

The organisation builds or renovates homes that families purchase with affordable loan repayments.

Habitat for Humanity's New Zealand chief executive, Pete North, said the team of women was decided upon for the latest project because it was a "great synergy" with Fashion Week.

"We have done women's builds before as a way of drawing attention to our projects. In fact, a New Zealand team from the Waikato holds the Habitat women's world record for building a complete house in four days."

The home will be moved to Mangere on Saturday night.