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Te Puea Marae has come through its first night of housing the homeless.
Chair Hurimoana Dennis says resources are starting to come in to allow the marae to deal with whoever comes in the door.
Six whanau were given beds for the night, and some are moving into other accommodation today.
He says often the problem seems to be a break down in communication with the ministry of Social Development or Housing New Zealand.
"If whanau come here we do some assessments on their urgent needs and we try to make the turnaround here as painless as possible but as short as possible but one thing you can be guaranteed if you come down here to Te Puea there is a Te Puea smile, a cup of tea, a kai and an environment that will allow them to unload a bit so they can start thinking straight," Mr Dennis says.
The onset of winter drove the marae to act, but it needs to work with other agencies to get long term outcomes for the whanau.
FULL INTERVIEW: HURIMOANA DENNIS
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