Trust rescues troubled hostel

A Rotorua trust has stepped in to revive the city's YWCA which it says has been attracting transients, drug addicts and crooks.

Ngati Whakaue's Pukeroa Oruawhata Trust plans to refurbish the YWCA building and incorporate emergency housing for the city's homeless.

Ngati Whakaue gifted the Te Ngae Rd land the YWCA hostel is on and the trust is buying the building and funding modernisation work to reopen the hostel later this year.

The hostel and homeless shelter will be separate.

Sixteen people currently residing at the YWCA have been given letters saying they need to find alternative accommodation by the end of the month so refurbishments can begin.

Currently there are holes in walls where residents have kicked in the walls and the entire building is in need of a makeover.

The board running the hostel say it is going to cost $500,000 to bring it up to scratch and without the financial support it would have been forced to close its doors.

Board chairwoman Geraldine Cunningham said a few years back a staff member stole more than $30,000 and it had been difficult to recover despite the woman paying back the money at $20 a week.

"It broke our hearts thinking we would have to close.

"That money would have helped keep us open," she said.

In recent years the hostel has changed, offering rooms to not only young women but other adults in need of accommodation.

However, at a community meeting it was made clear it was still needed, Mrs Cunningham said.

"There were a lot of people at that meeting. It's awesome the trust have come on board to help us out. We couldn't have done the work needed and it would have closed," she said.

Pukeroa Oruawhata Trust chairman Malcolm Short said the YWCA had run into financial trouble in recent years and the trust wanted to ensure it remained open for the benefit of the community.

"There were a lot of issues that had to be addressed. It was set up for young women originally but it has changed a lot over the years.

"The culture of the place was degenerating with a lot of transient people, drug addicts and crooks living there."

A full-time security officer would be employed once the facility was re-opened, he said.

The building will be re-opened in June with a 42-room hostel facility and a 15-bed wing for homeless people.

The shelter will have a separate entrance to the hostel and will have two fulltime staff on site.

The YWCA will have one staff member on site running the hostel.

Nightshelter Trust chairman Peter Fry said after five years of trying to find a place for the city's homeless it was great to finally have a place for them to stay.

"This is just awesome that something is finally being done," he said.

Jahmeiah Wilson is one of those leaving the YWCA but hopes to return after it's been refurbished.

For the past seven months the 23-year-old Rotorua labourer and his brother Juvarn have called "the Y" home.

Mr Wilson said it was the best place in town to live.

It was handy to his work and everyone was friendly.

"It really suits me here.

"My job is just down the road and it's close to the shops.

"Everyone is so friendly - it's like being at home," he said.