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Members of the Trust that runs the Whangaparaoa Community Hub are “gutted” that they could have to close the doors due to lack of funding.
The Hub opened in March last year as a two-year pilot, offering a space for community groups and agencies to provide services and hold events on the peninsula.
Rent for its premises, at 707 Whangaparaoa Road, costs around $35,000 annually.
The organisation approached the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board at its Community Forum in Browns Bay on December 5, with a desperate plea for more money.
Whangaparaoa Community Hub Trust chair Belinda Greenwood told members that the lease runs out in the middle of February and if a significant portion of next year’s rent – around $15,000 – cannot be found by then, the Hub will be forced to close.
As well as approaching Auckland Council, the Trust has applied for a number of other grants. The local board cannot provide money for rent, but member Julia Parfitt suggested they continue talking to the Council’s governing body.
Belinda says that all the other hubs in Auckland are Council funded.
She says they were doing quite well until the middle of this year, but money is now becoming tight and grants harder to come by.
Long term she says they need to find other funders and work towards being more sustainable.
She says the pilot has been successful and around 35-40 groups regularly use the facility.
“We recently raised the rentals for community groups to use the space to around $20 a day depending on the group and what they want to do,” she says. “Keeping it affordable for people is key.”
The hub has a Givealittle page givealittle.co.nz/org/whangahub
