Terence Smith, his wife Belinda and their baby son Daniel are shown outside their new four-bedroom home in Auckland's Glen Eden in 2009. The couple were among the first to benefit from the New Zealand Housing Foundation's shared ownership programme. The Smiths put up 80% of the cost of the house – a $10,000 deposit and the rest from a mortgage – and the foundation took up the remaining 20% stake until the Smiths could afford to buy it out. Effectively, it was like an interest-free second mortgage.

The New Zealand Housing Foundation was a charitable trust that aimed to make housing more affordable. It was funded by both government and private sources.