Minister impressed by shelter's work

Ministers Anne Tolley and Simon Bridges, pictured with Tauranga Moana Night Shelter manager Annamarie Angus (left), visited the shelter yesterday. Photo / Andrew Warner

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley was impressed by a visit to the Tauranga Moana Night Shelter yesterday.

Mrs Tolley met people from social sector agencies, together with Tauranga MP Simon Bridges.

She said constituents who met their local MP sometimes wanted a face-to-face meeting with a relevant minister and that was why she had come to the Bay with Mr Bridges.

The Bay of Plenty Times met Mrs Tolley at the Tauranga Moana Night Shelter, where trustees shared their success stories and their plans for the future.

"I'm very impressed by the shelter. The stats they have produced are very good.

"This is a service that is focused on quite deliverable results for these guys. The staff get them tidied up, give them accommodation and help them with learning to live a normal life. It's giving them a safe place to be."

Mrs Tolley said the night shelter staff had explained their funding difficulties.

"They don't have any contracts with the normal agencies you would expect to contract with them - they're dealing with men coming out of prison, men coming off the streets with drug and alcohol problems and men with mental health problems. They're dealing with people who have dropped through the normal agencies' contracts."

Tauranga Moana Night Shelter secretary Mike Mills said the shelter's problem was that it did not fit into any set category.

"Like our clients, our service kind of falls between the cracks. [Mrs Tolley] understood that and saw it quite clearly. My challenge to her is to see where we fit and what can be offered.

"We're a community service that gets no government funding."