Napier homeless lament Outreach closure as Kāinga Ora prepares to sell Clive Square site

Homeless people gather on a Sunday morning outside the former Outreach, now closed amid plans by social housing agency Kāinga Ora to sell the premises. The neighbouring property, a previous medical practice, is also for sale. Pictured are Carl Mana Reiri (left), Ashley Barber and Kelly O'Brien, and supporter and advocate Pete Findlay. Photo / Doug Laing

A Clive Square property for more than two decades used as an outreach centre for homeless locals in Napier is being sold following its sudden closure last month.

The plans have been confirmed to Hawke’s Bay Today by Kāinga Ora agency director for housing Lucy Ashby.

“Kāinga Ora plans to sell the property and reinvest the proceeds in the renewal of our social housing stock,” she said.

The Outreach was established more than 20 years ago as The Lighthouse and has been run by Napier provider Whatever It Takes Trust (WIT). It had become a focus of concern among neighbours due to incidents of antisocial behaviour.

In June, Kāinga Ora announced the latest steps in what it called a “financial reset”, including plans to sell land chief executive Matt Crocket said was “surplus to our requirements so we can get on a more financially sustainable footing”.

The Outreach was closed four weeks ago, with WIT no longer able to provide the service amid rising costs, including the rent.

Despite the closure, homeless people were still using its porch as shelter at nights, leading to the property being fenced off on Friday.

“Now, they’ve got nowhere to go,” says advocate and volunteer supporter Pete Findlay, who continues daily feeding of the most needy in the vicinity of the site and the nearby bus terminal.

WIT chief executive Sam Aberahama said the closure is not linked to the establishment in late June of new Hastings St night shelter Āhuru Mōwai, in which Findlay, WIT and others are founding partners, targeting the most vulnerable males in the homeless community.

He said WIT isn’t interested in the building now for sale but is actively seeking other solutions for the future, including a possible “hub” elsewhere.

Last week, WIT staged a Napier Homeless Day Hub Feasibility Workshop, with more than 60 stakeholders present, including five of those from the Hastings St shelter.

He said it brought together community leaders, government agencies, non-government agencies, business, health providers and funders to “co-design a vision for a safe, welcoming, and innovative space where whānau pounamu can access basic needs, support services, and pathways to wellbeing”.

A debrief is being held this week as part of a feasibility study for an integrated homelessness community hub in Napier, along with evaluation of the night shelter project.

Findlay says it’s hard to calculate how many are daily homeless on the streets in Napier, although in recent times he’s “probably” fed 16-17 over the course of a week in Clive Square.

“They tend to flow a bit between Napier and Hastings, and other places,” he said. “What we need is a collective solution. Some of them do have ideas themselves, but they aren’t heard.

“All you do [by closing the Outreach] is you’re moving the problem around, moving it on somewhere else.

“The answer, for now, seems to be a tent village on the beach next.”

Napier Ahuriri Homeless Shelter Society chairman Mark Cleary said there were initial positive signs from the project, with about 12 people having so far been through Āhuru Mōwai, with “some good outcomes”, including at least one moving into a stable home.

However, he said a “desperate need” remained for government funding “if it is to be successful”.

Funding was kick-started in May with a movie night that raised over $15,000, since bolstered by the city council and and other funding.

A second movie night, with a showing of 2002 New Zealand movie Whale Rider, starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, will be held in the Century Theatre on November 11.

Cleary said most of the day-to-day needs of the shelter are met at present, but added: “If there is anything else needed it is meaningful daytime activity to help these men reconnect.”

Doug Laing is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter who has been based in Napier for the last 38 years, covering most aspects of news.