Pavitt Street Transitional Housing Project
Just under twelve months ago, the Society of St Vincent de Paul began construction of the seven apartments to house young mothers and their children who are homeless or in unsatisfactory housing circumstances. This initiative reflected several years of planning, gaining all the necessary approvals, and fundraising 2.25m.
The builder has made good progress with the construction of these facilities and expects to have them completed by early December. This progress has only been possible due to the generosity of grant funders, including the Hoatu Fund, Christchurch City Council (Endowment Fund), the Hugo Trust, and Kiwi Gaming Foundation. Many others have contributed to this goal for which we are extremely grateful. Our fundraising target for construction, landscaping, and furnishing of these facilities has been reached. This now leaves our last fundraising goal of $110,000 for the social services needed to support our tenants.
Recent visitors to the site include the Hugo Trust, Rose Crossland (CCC) and Rob Farrell (who advised on the project in its early stages). We also welcomed Bishop Michael and his Curial advisors, Mike Stopforth and Simon Thompson, who were most impressed with these facilities and stayed to learn more about the recent experiences and future plans of the Society.
The Society is partnering with St John of God Hauora Trust (SJGHT) who will deliver the Housing Opportunities for Parental Enhancement (HOPE) programme to the parents at Pavitt Street. SJGHT deliver a range of social and community services to vulnerable young people in Christchurch, supporting their growth and development. The Waipuna based HOPE team will provide wrap-around support to these families, enabling the parents to develop skills to enable them to secure and sustain a permanent housing solution in which they can thrive.
HOPE will walk alongside each family at Pavitt Street to provide individual social work support, advocacy,
and connection to services which meet their needs. Through HOPE, families will be able to access the
wider support services offered at Waipuna. These include a range of pregnancy and parenting education
services, parenting and attachment programmes, and healthy lifestyles and relationship groups.
Our final goal for this project is to raise the remaining $110,000 needed to sustain the operational needs for providing the critical wrap-around services. If you would like to help with a donation, please email Mary at mbrady@svdpchch.co.nz.