Wellington City Mission opens new transitional housing facility, Te Pā Pori

Monday, 5 July 2021

Tanoa Aulavemai had a brief lie down when he got a sneak peek of Te Pā Pori, Wellington City Mission's newest transitional housing facility.

The first thing Tanoa Aulavemai did when he got a sneak peek at what his new room might look like was make a beeline for the bed.

Aulavemai's smile never left his face as he tucked his hands behind his neck, lying down on the polka-dotted duvet cover.

In the past, Aulavemai said when he was struggling, he never asked for help. In June, Aulavemai found Wellington City Mission's website and decided to reach out to the charitable trust for help.

“Before, I would do things on my own. I thought I knew what to do, but it turned out that way wasn’t working.”

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A one-bedroom unit in Wellington City Mission’s Te Pā Pori.

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Tanoa Aulavemai says he feels spoilt and excited about his new home.

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Te Pā Pori has a lease in the zebra building on Tory St in central Wellington. (File photo)

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People living in these rooms would have their own bathroom, a kitchenette, television, wardrobe, table, and couch.

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Some also have their own laundry machines.

An accessible bathroom in one of the bedrooms in Te Pā Pori, Wellington City Mission's newest transitional housing facility on Tory St.

Since then, he has been living in the Mission’s transitional housing facility, Te Pā Maru, on Taranaki St.

Dakota Tuari, Wellington City Mission team leader, outside Te Pā Pori, which was formerly Wild Zebra Backpackers.

With that set to undergo a full refurbishment, he will now live at the Mission's latest building, Te Pā Pori, on Tory St.

Wellington City Missioner Murray Edridge says the building was an opportunity to house more people and provide more people its services to help them with the problems they could be facing. (File photo)

With its zebra stripes, the building is a familiar sight to locals. The city’s missioner, Murray Edridge, said the new carvings that are the building’s entrance, shown at its opening on Tuesday morning, would make it even more of a landmark.

Paul says 2020 has been the best year of his life because of the help and support he has received from Wellington City Mission. (First published in December 2020)

Formerly a backpacker hostel, the building was bought by The Wellington Company for $7.5 million with initial plans for the space to become a hotel for medium- to long-term stays.

Working with developer Alex Cassels, the Wellington City Mission has a six-year lease for the building, allowing the Mission to provide transitional housing and its support services on a larger scale, Edridge said.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development would be underwriting the full costs of the lease.

In the building, there were 83 apartments – more than 70 of those were one-bedroom units. People living in these rooms would have their own bathroom, a kitchenette, television, wardrobe, table, and couch. Some rooms also have a washing machine.

There were also communal spaces for people to gather.

So far, 43 people had moved into the building and Wellington City Mission planned to house four different communities of men, women, couples and transgender people aged 18 and older.

Aulavemai said he felt spoilt and excited about seeing his new home.

“I like chatting with other tenants as we're all kind of in the same boat,” he said.

He was glad he made the decision to get help and with continued guidance from Wellington City Mission from housing to their other services, he felt as though he was “heading to something brighter”.

“Before, I didn't think there was any hope, but I have a sense of direction and I know the future is going to be bright. I'm glad to be here.”

One of the team leaders, Dakota Tuari, said Wellington City Mission was responding to the needs of people in the city.

Wellington City Missioner Murray Edridge said he felt excited about Tuesday's official opening of Te Pā Pori.

“It's an opportunity to make a significant dent in a social issue in Wellington,” Edridge said.

'It's an exciting opportunity and the scale of the building is significant because it means we can house more people and work with people on the problems they're facing.'