Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services' first homeless family may be moving into new downtown accommodation over the next few days, says director Tommy ‘Kapai' Wilson.

The trust's Whare Tauranga is based at the vacant office building at the bottom of McLean Street which has been loaned to the trust by the Tauranga Moana Maori Trust Board.

The official opening ceremony of Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services' Whare Tauranga on McLean Street took place today. Photo: Andrew Campbell

The past two weeks has seen a flurry of activity taking place at Whare Tauranga, with an army of tradesmen and volunteers converting the office building into living accommodation.

Tommy says the trust will try to get one family into Whare Tauranga first and then will work out what the capacity is.

'We will get our first family in the weekend and we'll just build it from there," he says.

'We will put 20 families through here in a year. Ten weeks at a time. We will fix them, put them into longer term accommodation. Every ten weeks we will turn them over.”

The families using the short term rent free accommodation will be vetted by the trust, which has a drug and alcohol free policy. It's not for the street people or homies, says Tommy. It's for families that have nowhere to go.

Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services' Tommy ‘Kapai' Wilson. Photo: Andrew Campbell