Rolleston prisoners are celebrating building or renovating 150 houses to bolster Kainga Ora’s supply.
The programme, which began after the earthquakes, allows men to work while in jail.
For the men, learning to build is opening doors.
“It's an opportunity to come down here and get the skills to learn something which is really good,” one prisoner said.
The work is all happening within the prison grounds, which can be found on the outskirts of Christchurch.
“We've actually managed to have prisoners giving back into the community and with a really good project,” prison director Colin Williamson said.
Initially, the programme was focused on refurbishing homes from the red zone.
Around three years ago, new builds were introduced, and there have now been 70 homes built - all ending up as social housing.
“At the end of the day, we make full use of the houses here that the guys put together, so we're very grateful for every house to be put to good use, and families who need the homes enjoy the work that the guys do here,” Kāinga Ora’S Paul Commons said.
“All these homes built here are magnificent for the needs we're meeting.”
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has praised the programme.
“It takes a lot of effort to train somebody to help them to grow their skills through being able to work of this quality of this standard,” he said.
“I'd love to live in a house like this, warm, dry, and comfortable, but also, these prisoners and corrections are giving back to the community.”
Hundreds of men have trained on prison worksites over the past 10 years and is getting them ready for release day.
What we do here is we're trying to give the prisoners employment skills so, and those skills need to be transferable on release so they gain qualifications in a number of areas, carpentry, painting, gib stopping forklift driving site safety qualifications,” Williamson said.
“So they actually make them more employable, so when they do get released, it's easier for them to go out in the community and get employed.”
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