My Whare
My Whare is an innovative housing response to youth homelessness, enabling rangatahi to thrive.
1% of all New Zealanders are experiencing homelessness or living in severely deficient housing. Of these, around 50% are young people. My Whare is an innovative response to youth homelessness and involves placing state of the art one-bedroom studios on residential properties to house youth who have had a challenging start.
How the Programme Works
The programme includes supportive mentoring from a host family to help guide the young person towards life, educational and employment goals. In this way, the young person receives connection to community through shared meals and experiences with the host family, while being given the space to grow independently. They also receive regular support and mentoring from a designated youth worker, who co-designs a path to independence with the young person, supporting them to learn living skills necessary to live independently as adults.
Visionwest offers the programme to young people who are transitioning out of care or homelessness.
Youth Homelessness
My Whare recognises that youth homelessness is a key issue in Aotearoa New Zealand with over half the homeless population being under the age of 25 and 28% being 15-24 year olds. This high rate of youth homelessness is driven largely by rangatahi transitions out of care, youth leaving the justice system with inadequate supports, and the rise of mental health struggles amongst vulnerable young people.
My Whare aims to address these issues and, through mentoring and a stable home life, offer young people a pathway to success.
