Six years after opening, the Dunedin Night Shelter Trust is
refocusing its approach to providing emergency accommodation.
Trust chairman Kevin Tansley said the organisation carried
out a "comprehensive review" at the beginning of the year on
how the service was running.
"We came to the conclusion that we were actually doing some
things that others in the city were doing as well. Dunedin is
quite a small place and so it seems silly to duplicate
stuff," he said.
The shelter used to provide clothing, bedding and placement
services, which other organisations in Dunedin did.
"We are not doing them anymore and we are just focusing on
the running of the night shelter. It's all driven by money
and the idea of trying to get secure funding."
The trust also combined its two paid employee roles and will
soon appoint one shelter manager to supervise the shelter
five nights a week, organise and train volunteers, and be
responsible for the general running of the operation.
Mr Tansley hoped the changes would enable the trust, which
relied on unsecured funding such as grants from charitable
trusts, to save about 30% of its annual budget.
The shelter, which can accommodate up to six people a night,
had an occupancy of 258 bed nights last year and helped about
70 new clients.
The "overwhelming need" for the service was from men and
their reasons for accessing the shelter varied widely.
"They just need somewhere to go. We are very keen to make
sure we are still around to meet the need."
ellie.constantine@odt.co.nz
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