After six years of planning, construction and development, the Wellington City Mission is ready with it's new purpose-built community and social services hub Whakamaru, that is planned to open to the public on 18 November 2024.

Whakamaru has been designed to be a transformational community facility for everyone in Wellington. Operational 24/7 for those in need, the Wellington City Mission’s new development aims to re-shape the way the city's community supports and cares for itself.

Designed to be more than just a building, Whakamaru will be home to long-term transitional housing, Wellington City Mission’s network of support services and a welcoming community hub and café where the people at the heart of the project hope to foster a culture of no ‘us and them’.

A dawn blessing and official opening is scheduled for the end of October, when Whakamaru will open to staff and manuhiri at the beginning of November, before public access and full operations begin on November 18. 

Wellington City Missioner, Rev Murray Eldridge says the new hub will be a gamechanger for the way the Mission provides services in the context of community.

 “In the year of the Wellington City Mission’s 120th Anniversary, Whakamaru represents a vital evolution in our services and an important milestone in our history. Whakamaru will provide care and support for those who need it, but it will also act as a community hub for everyone in our region.”

“The recent increase in demand for our services shows us there is a critical need for us all to rethink how we ‘do community’. Whakamaru will re-shape how Wellingtonians support and care for each other, bringing us all together under one roof and eliminating the divide between ‘us and them’.”

 Whakamaru will offer a wide range of on-site facilities, housing and services to the whole community. These facilities include:

- 35 long-term transitional housing apartments for individuals and families

- Craig and Gail’s Café, which will operate under a ‘contribute-what-you-can’ model

- A new-look Social Supermarket

- The Mission’s network of Community Practitioners

- Laundry and shower facilities freely available for anyone who needs them

- A medical centre operated by Ora Toa

- ‘The Hub’, a centre of collaboration with meeting rooms available for booking at no cost for the wider Wellington community

- A 24/7 Crisis and Recovery Café

- The Chapel, a place where people of all religions or none can seek solace and peace and practice their faith 

- The Wellington City Mission’s head office

Follow this link to find out more about the guiding principles behind Whakamaru.  

You can donate or support the work of the Wellington City Mission via this link.