Wet house replaced by supported living
Three years ago, Wellington Mayor Justin Lester came to office on the back of popular support for his signature policy – New Zealand’s first wet house – but it never happened.
He and fellow Labour Party councillor Brian Dawson said a mixture of more knowledge about the homelessness problem in Wellington and a breakdown in talks with the previous Government were to blame for the demise of the idea.
Both cited a halving of rough sleepers between February and June as evidence the council was making progress on the issue.
Lester has already pledged to end homelessness in Wellington within three years if he is re-elected. Of the wet house idea, he said: ‘‘It has evolved, the idea and the best delivery.’’
The new ‘‘supported would target a different homelessness problem.
A wet house is a communal facility where people are allowed to drink while getting treatment.
Supported living units are not communal, they are individual units with 24-hour seven-days-a-week wrap-around support services on-site like that proposed for the living’’ aspect units of the Supported living units under construction and money pledged to tackle homelessness:
❚ Housing New Zealand development in Rolleston St under construction: 20 supported living units.
❚ Arlington sites 1 and 3 – council-owned but deal struck to lease them to Housing NZ: 40 supported living units.
❚ $500,000 to assist Wellington City Mission develop new multi-purpose premises in Oxford St, Mt Cook with transitional, long-term housing, and 35 supported living units.
❚ $500,000 per annum for a street outreach programme delivered via Downtown Community Ministry.
new Greys Ave social housing development in Auckland.
Dawson said this fitted in better with the Government’s Housing First strategy – which aims to get rough sleepers into their own home or unit – and would give the scheme access to government funding.
‘‘They are two different things [wet house and supported living units], for those who are really chronically addicted then a therapeutic communal facility is going to be helpful but that is not actually the majority of people we are talking about in Wellington. The majority of people we are talking about in Wellington have got chronic issues that can be supported with 24/7 care.’’
Lester said they tried to get a communal wet house off the ground in the early days of his term but were scuppered by the previous National-led Government, which refused to fund the wet house unless it was delivered on a bigger scale and in a new Housing NZ-owned facility.
Dawson said 15 units at a central city building were picked out for a wet house but the previous Government wanted a 150-unit facility. That number was well beyond best practice for a wet house, Dawson said. ‘‘It is not just about cramming people into a building.’’
Three of Lester’s rivals for the job – Diane Calvert, Jenny Condie and Andy Foster – said they supported existing funding set aside to tackle homelessness, and Foster singled out Dawson for his efforts in the area.
All pledged to maintain current levels of spending and commitment on the issue.
Foster said the council could never have delivered a wet house on its own and was always reliant on the Government jumping on board.
Mayoral candidate Conor Hill said wet houses and supported living units were different concepts and both were needed in Wellington. ‘‘The wet house model has been proven to work in other parts of the world, in Canada in particular. It shouldn’t just be abandoned.’’