Whanganui District Council’s homeless hub waiting on key items

Two containers are still to be delivered to the site. Photo / Bevan Conley

Consents are delaying the last pieces of the puzzle at the homeless hub on Taupō Quay.

Whanganui District Council housing adviser Jeanette Te Ua-Hausman told a council operations and performance committee residents were currently supported by the Tupoho Social Services Trust, which made site visits three times per week.

According to her report, two 20-foot containers have been fitted out by Extol Engineering. One is an ablution block with accessible toilets and showers with hot water. The other is a portacom with a kitchenette and separate office space.

They are yet to be delivered to the site and a portaloo leased from Harrison’s Hiremaster is being used in the meantime.

Speaking to the Chronicle, council chief executive David Langford said officers originally thought it would be okay to move the facilities onto the site straight away.

“We wanted to make some modifications to the portacom to make security and personal safety a bit better and that needed a building consent.

“We also discovered we would need a land use resource consent to put the buildings on the site.”

The council was the regulator for consents so it had to do them properly and be a role model for others, Langford said.

He said it was hard to say when they would be granted but his team was working hard on them.

“Whilst the [buildings] are important, we can get going now and add them in later.

“We’re still doing 90 per cent of what we originally set out to do.”

Councillor Ross Fallen asked whether Taupō Quay was being used by people from sites at Anzac Parade and Springvale Park, or if it was people from out of town.

Te Ua-Hausman said she couldn’t confirm exactly where they came from.

“We do know that those currently residing on Taupō Quay have moved over from Anzac Parade, but what town they’ve come from we don’t explicitly know.”

Council community wellbeing manager Lauren Tamehana said there wasn’t enough space at Taupō Quay for everyone from the two other sites.

A community provider was working with those still at Anzac Parade and Springvale and making sure they had updated assessments for the housing register, she said.

Since March 30, Armourguard had visited randomly twice every 24 hours, including evening visits, Te Ua-Hausman’s report said.

Estimated expenditure to the end of September would be $53,151.

Over 18 months, the cost was expected to be $173,025.

Councillor Rob Vinsen said he wasn’t proud of how the council had handled the homeless situation.

“At the end of October/early November, many of us elected members had this pointed out to us as the number one issue in the community.

“Here we are in August and this is still not up and running properly.”

He said there were eight people at the new site.

“Look at how much we are spending on this. This is unbelievable.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.