‘A youth one-stop shop on steroids’: Stage one of new youth hub opens

Thursday, 31 October 2024

The $21 million dollar youth one-stop shop will provide wrap-around services and housing for Christchurch youth in need.

A $21 million “youth one-stop shop on steroids” has unveiled its first completed stage, which will provide full wrap-around services and accommodation for Ōtautahi youth.

The build features offices, meeting rooms, tutoring spaces, an activity court and a fully kitted out housing wing for 22 young people aged 16 to 25, two of which are wheelchair accessible.

For the first time Christchurch support services including Te Tahi Youth, Voyce Whakarongo Mai and Youthline, as well as counsellors and health workers, will be based out of the same building.

Chairperson of the Youth Hub Trust Dame Sue Bagshaw hopes the new building can be a place for young people to gather.

Youth Hub Trust chairperson Dame Sue Bagshawhas been the heart behind the project, with the goal of helping the young people of Ōtautahi who didn’t necessarily have a good start in life.

“It’s for people who need help and that can be anybody, because all young people need some help,” she said.

The hub includes housing for 22 rangatahi, an outdoor activities court, a courtyard and meeting and office spaces.

“That's the idea, to bring young people together who have got nowhere else to live or are couch surfing, give them some stability and hopefully they can make friends.”

Funding the $21m project hasn’t come easy, with years spent raising money from the central government, finding donations and cultivating partnerships with organisations such as the Rātā Foundation, Anglican Care and the Wayne Francis Charitable Trust.

An online registry was set up for the public to buy items from $25 cups to a $5000 fridge/freezer to fit out the inside of the building. Community groups such as the quilters organisations in Christchurch have made bedding for the rooms.

Each bedroom is kitted out with homemade quilts from the three quilters associations in Christchurch.

And despite the work and “rollercoaster of a journey” so far, the team is only halfway there, Bagshaw said.

“I’m thinking of today as the end of a beginning and the beginning of an end,” she said.

Christchurch City Council approved a $2m grant for a youth-centred event and activity centre in stage two of the build.

Stage two, which includes a café, an activity centre, a front-facing whare for support, creative arts spaces and hopefully more housing for young families, still needs more than $20 million in funding.

Earlier this year, Bagshaw appealed to the council during long term plan hearings, and was granted $2m million grantfrom the Capital Endowment Fund to support a youth-centred event and activity centre which will hold up to 200 people.

The total cost of the space is $2.45m, with the trust working with other funders to secure the remaining funds. Construction is due to begin in 2025.

The Youth Hub team are still raising funds for the second stage of the project.

“It’s been a long time,” Bagshaw said.

And with the first support provider Te Tahi Youth open for business in the hub on November 20, with other services close behind and the housing wing opening in the new year, she has one hope.

“It’s a gathering place and hopefully lots of people will gather.”

More information on the new Youth Hub and its services can be found here.