The K’Rd Hub – Breaking the Cycle of Dependency

Lifewise Trust has helped local people for more than one hundred years including the homeless or vulnerably housed. Recently it opened The Hub, a cafe in Karangahape Rd (K’Rd), as a means of changing the way food is being delivered to those who are homeless.

Inadvertently, many soup kitchens create dependency and separate those who are homeless from the rest of community. Lifewise chose to address this by normalising the food experience and setting up a self-selection cafe for the homeless. The cafe has a range of different services in it. John McCarthy, the general manager, explains that while people come for the food, there are also staff from mental health services, alcohol and drug services, and Housing New Zealand available to assist people to change their lives in a positive way. The cafe is also open to the general public, thus breaking down the barrier between ‘us’ and ‘them’. John explains that one of the challenges is how to build on this new development, as well as to how it could be used more widely. John is interested in exploring the ways in which it might be possible to offer more formal training and employment within the cafe.

Funding support from: individuals, local and central government, businesses and trusts