Wrapping up 2023 – Words from our General Manager
“2023 has been our most successful year in terms of transitioning our women into new homes”
From our little corner of world…
I take this opportunity to reflect not only on the last 12 months but also the very challenging and rewarding outcomes achieved by Wellington Homeless Women’s Trust and our whare Te Whare Nukunoa. Established in 2013, we started with 5 rooms and two staff as an independent transitional provider. In 2020, our Board secured an agreement of 9 more rooms funded by Housing Urban Authority, which increased our service to 14 rooms.
Today, the demand for critical assistance, housing, supported living, independence skills, health & wellbeing and simply avoiding homelessness had reached epidemic proportions. Although not surprised by the research carried out by Alan & Clark, who identified that 50.5% of people experiencing homelessness in Aotearoa were women.
Our service currently operates 24 hours and 7 days a week with a staff ratio of 10, which is very unique. It has been stated by several government agencies that we may be a ’one of a kind’ in the Wellington region or perhaps nationally that provides such a comprehensive service. This is daily frontline work with a difference – comparing this to “you don’t know someone until you have lived with them”. This places us in a strong position to advocate adequately for all our tenants.
A high caliber of 10 highly skilled professionals and support staff makes up our team. Once tenants settle in, each is introduced to a ‘Specialised Individual Support Plan’ under the ‘W.A.L.K Program Framework ‘. This covers all aspects of identifying tenant’s needs and prioritising how best to address them. The key to success is the willingness by the tenants to engage with the support given. This makes a significant difference to their Health, Education, Wellbeing and safety. Having a good collaborative working relationship with other community services speeds up the process of receiving an achievable outcome. One such collective partnership (Pilot “Healing’ Program) was formed late this year with our Alcohol, Other Drug (AOD) practitioner in collaboration with Downtown City Mission (DCM) called, “Poipoia te Kakano kia Puawai – ‘Nuture the seed and it will bloom’. This is proving very popular.
2023 has been our most successful year in terms of transitioning our women into new homes. We all feel very privileged to be a part of their happiness and the valuable knowledge they have given us whilst a tenant at Te Where Nukunoa. None of this work could have been possible without the generosity of funders, community support, donations, aroha and the WHWT Board of Trustees.
From us all, THANK YOU SO MUCH! May you all have a blessed festive season.
