Wellington ‘sanctuary’ for 30 years to open doors in new location

Monday, 28 October 2024

After more than a decade visiting Wellington City Mission’s community lounge in Newtown, Raymond McMahon has become somewhat of an icon.

He was brought to Tā Te Manawa by faith alone, he says.

As soon as he walked through the doors and saw people having a meal together he understood it was a place he needed to be at a time of need.

“I needed to be around a lot of people,” McMahon said. “It was like a sanctuary to me.”

Tā Te Manawa would be closing its doors and the site demolished after more than 30 years of serving its community on Gordon Place in Wellington’s suburb of Newtown.

As one chapter ends another begins, as Whakamaru will officially open in neighbouring suburb Mt Cook on Wednesday when it’s blessed at a dawn ceremony.

The Wellington City Mission’s new home had been six years in the making. What had started as a $5 million project, taking over and renovating an existing building on Oxford Tce, tucked behind Adelaide Rd, turned into an entirely new building costing $50m by the time of its completion.

Similar to Auckland City Mission’s HomeGround, Whakamaru will combine transitional housing apartments, Ora Toa Pōneke Medical Centre, laundry and shower facilities open to anyone, and a network of community practitioners including social workers, counsellors, addiction support workers and financial mentors under one roof.

The 35 apartments would house individuals and whānau who were experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. The site would also include the Mission’s staff offices, a social supermarket, a koha-based cafe and a crisis recovery cafe which would be open 24/7 to anyone in need.

Pip Rea, director of community services at the mission, said she was most excited about the crisis cafe and to be able to be onsite with rangatahi who would be living in the apartments.

She was passionate about early intervention for people experiencing mental health distress and for it to be a safe, welcoming and community-based environment.

It was “massively significant” to have as many services as Whakamaru had under one roof when it could be frustrating and a barrier at a time of crisis for people to have to navigate multiple locations and services.

“You just come to one place, no matter the day or the time, and get the support that you need and someone to walk alongside you.

“That for me, is a game-changer for people.”

Wellington City Missioner Murray Edridge said Whakamaru was an attempt “to do community differently”.

Its intention was to create less of a divide between people in the community by bringing different spaces together including meeting rooms and a cafe which anyone in the community could use.

The name, gifted by mana whenua, meant to shelter, to protect and to nurture, Edridge said.

“This idea that by wrapping ourselves around people around the community, we show care, we show concern, and we protect people and enable them to become the best version they can of themselves.”

The Mission had $4.5m left to fundraise before the building was debt-free.

One of the early commitments was to open the building without any debt on it to be able to put any revenue from the building straight back into the community, Edridge said.

“It's also really important to understand that the building, although it belongs to the Wellington City Mission, has been built and paid for by the communities of Wellington and so this belongs to Wellington,” he said.

It was still working out and finalising its operational costs given it would run 24/7 and the cafe was koha-based.

“We’re very hopeful that going forward, this building will be self sufficient in terms of covering its own costs and enabling us to do some of the things in the community we’re hoping to be able to do.”

Paul Taylor was introduced to the Mission about 10 years ago when he was experiencing homelessness, living in his van along Wellington’s coast.

“I've been here ever since.”

The space was an environment where people from all walks of life could come together, Taylor said.

“If you’re homeless and you're not that social, this is some place to go – some place to belong.”

He was excited for the move to Whakamaru which was closer to where he now lived and to be in a bigger space.

There wasn’t much he would miss about the old space because the people would be the same, Taylor said.

For Tala Cleverley, the community lounge was a place she found friends.

“I’m lonely, I live alone and I do my own thing. I have my own house but there is a time I need a friend or someone to talk to … I try and find a friend,” she said.

“Here is small but there's so much joy and love in this little place so I enjoy every moment I come here.”

But she looked forward to the new space because it was designed to meet people’s needs and held space for more activities, Cleverley said.

“This place has done a wonderful service for the community,” she said of the Newtown site. “There's a lot of love and support in here.”

McMahon, who now volunteered at the Mission, said he would miss people he spent time with at Tā Te Manawa but he believed change was always good and an opportunity for growth and to improve his life.

“Most of all, I'm actually satisfied with my own life here, because otherwise I wouldn't have had purpose and to love myself, this place gave me a purpose to look forward to.”

Whakamaru would be blessed by Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Toa on Wednesday followed by an opening ceremony attended by Te Rūnanganui o Te Āti Awa chairman Kura Moeahu, Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro, Minister Nicola Willis and deputy mayor Laurie Foon.

It will open to the public on November 18, while residents will move in in December.