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Epuni Precinct Bless of new homes for whanau

A beautiful blessing this morning in Epuni as another three blocks of housing are opened at the 150 home precinct, in readiness to house those most in need of warm, safe housing in our city.

This first of its kind housing initiative will not only ensure decent homes, it will provide wrap around social and health services support for whānau and a community centre and community kitchen, thanks to a collaboration with Takiri Mai te Ata Homelessness Prevention Service and @Kainga Ora.
He Puāwai will also be on-site supporting with whānau garden plots, (check out the huge size of where the māra kai will be!) community greenhouse and cooking classes, ensuring that each whanau living in the new precinct has support with their own kai plan, budgeting and cooking classes. We can only imagine the transformation this offers to whānau who have been living in cars and motels. To come home, to be cared for - and to feel safe and loved.
For the past few years some of our team have been working alongside Takiri Mai te Ata Homelessness Prevention Services and Kāinga Ora to co-design a housing model that serves significant numbers of whānau/families out of emergency/transitional housing, in Epuni Lower Hutt.

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Publications

26,500 Covid Packs Delivered (1.504MB)

An evaluation of services provided by Tākiri Mai te Ata Homelessness Prevention Service Wā Kāinga Housing Hub (1.148MB)

Report on Covid Response (8.656MB)

Tihei Rangatahi Holiday Programme Term 2 Recap

Over the past two weeks, we ran an amazing Tihei Rangatahi holiday programme filled with learning, fun, and unforgettable experiences.

We kicked things off with a station rotation day where the rangatahi learned how to make putiputi from harakeke, helped with hāngī prep for our lunch the next day, and enjoyed a round of sports. We wrapped up the day with a sausage sizzle and a hikoi down the Gumloop.

The next day we headed out to Brewtown, where the kids had a blast ice skating and jumping on trampolines. We ended that day by sharing the delicious hāngī we prepared together.

To finish off Week 1, we treated the kids to a movie day to watch The Karate Kid 3, complete with goodie bags for the full experience.

Week 2 started with a splash at H2O Pool, which the kids loved so much that we went again the next day — this time to Kilbirnie Pools.

On our final day, we spent the morning at Walter Nash, playing a range of sports, then celebrated our last afternoon at Taita Rocks with pizza. We closed the programme with a special Hautūku ceremony, where each rangatahi wrote down something they wanted to release and placed it in the fire. They also wrote a goal on a star to set intentions moving forward.

We ended with s’mores, laughter, and full hearts. The tamariki absolutely loved it — and we can’t wait for the next Tihei Rangatahi holiday programme!