Council adds to wet house funding uncertainty

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A proposed home for alcoholic vagrants in a quiet Wellington cul-de-sac has been struck another blow, with the city's mayor warning that council funding could be pulled.

Plans are under way to set up New Zealand's first "wet house" – where about six long-term homeless can live and still drink – in Island Bay's Ribble St.

There has been fierce opposition from locals who fear for the safety of their children.

Mayor Kerry Prendergast said she was concerned about the proposal and completely understood how the community felt.

"To be honest, I wouldn't want a facility like this near where my family live either."

The wet house would provide a stable home, routines and proper meals in the hope that the residents could eventually give up alcohol.

It will be funded for the first year only with $180,000 from Capital and Coast District Health Board and $250,000 from Wellington City Council, and will be based in a Housing New Zealand-owned complex.

This week, the district health board suspended its funding, to seek clarification on the project from the Te Whare Oki Oki Trust, which will run it.

Ms Prendergast supported the review and said that, if the DHB pulled its funding, the council would do the same.

In 2007 the council earmarked $500,000, over two years, for a homeless project but it was halved this year.

Ms Prendergast said the council wanted a place where rough-sleepers could shower and get shelter so they did not have to sleep on the street.

"We were told those people would never work in a residential area. They actually didn't want to change, they didn't want to be helped.

"It's now morphed into a small group of people in a programme where they do want help. It's completely different. That's a health programme and not the role of a territorial local authority." The council had looked at three possible sites for homeless accommodation in the central city but none of the surrounding businesses and apartment owners wanted it there.

Te Whare Oki Oki Trust chairwoman Ruth Harrison said the current funding meant it would be a lean operation but there would be no compromise on quality of care.

The aim was to run the wet house long-term and two skilled staff would be on the site at all times.

Ms Harrison said nearly every not-for-profit organisation in New Zealand, including Te Whare Oki Oki, was funded on a one-year basis.

Two other health trusts she chaired were in the same situation and had been going for more than a decade.

She said other avenues of funding could be sought.

Island Bay's MP, the Labour deputy leader, Annette King, said a wet house was needed but people in that community felt they had done their share. "You need community support. Otherwise it's very hard for the residents and the people in the programme."

But not everyone in Island Bay was against the wet house.

Dr Arlene Smyth, who works at the medical centre and lives near Ribble St, said there was already a "concentration" of people with mental health problems in the community, and a surprising number of alcoholics and methadone addicts.

"The community don't realise all of those problems are here, they just don't see them. I'm more concerned at people drink-driving than people in a wet house."

- © Fairfax NZ News