A new alcohol harm reduction facility will soon open in Wellington - the first of its kind in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Taking over the former Wellington Night Shelter premises on Taranaki Street, Wellington City Mission (WCM)-run Te Pā Maru will take a unique approach to residential emergency housing for alcohol-dependent people experiencing homelessness.

“Alcohol-dependent people are often shut out of housing, and with that, any hope of regular and sustainable access to other social services,” says Wellington City Missioner Murray Edridge. “Almost all emergency housing services have some requirement around sobriety, and the reality is that can be too much of a barrier.”

The Te Pā Maru service model, based on others from around the world, including Canada and Australia, doesn’t require its Kainoho (residents) to be sober, and it won’t prevent them from consuming alcohol on site. Alcohol consumption on site will have clinical oversight and will be carefully monitored.

“We have to recognise that sobriety is a very high bar for some,” says Murray, “sure, ideally, anyone with an addiction may in theory be able to seek treatment and deal with that eventually, but as a starting point, it’s just not possible.”

Dignity, respect and care without judgement is at the heart of Te Pā Maru’s approach, which will see 18 ensuited rooms made available to alcohol-dependent people experiencing homelessness, who will likely be facing a range of other issues besides.

“Once you can get someone living somewhere safely and sustainably, once you can get them good quality nutrition, rest and access to medical care, once you are able to take a look at the whole of that person’s life and establish what they have going on – why they are isolated, what other impacts are they suffering from sleeping rough – then you can worry about their addiction, if that’s on the table.”

Even then, Te Pā Maru will have no requirement that people are sober, or that they are seeking treatment.

“First you have to reduce the chaos,” says Murray. “The chaos people experiencing homelessness live with every day is profound. They are profoundly unsafe. They are profoundly at risk. We want to restore dignity to those people, and we don’t think their dependency or behaviour around alcohol should affect that.”

The Te Pā Maru service is based on quality science and proven outcomes. Its consideration and development is the result of close work with a consortium of partners, such as the New Zealand Police and Te Whatu Ora, and with help from internal and external addiction specialists and support from Mana Whenua.

Te Pā Maru is expected to open September 2023, at 304 Taranaki Street.

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