Ms Curran, a longtime advocate for the homeless and former Dunedin MP, says the city should judge itself on how it treats the most vulnerable.
In 2017, Ms Curran slept in a tent in the Octagon to campaign against homelessness.
"I feel as strongly about this now as I did back then, and am at a bit of a loss why we have not moved forwards. We need a solution."
The solution was homes, plus the support people needed, she said.
The city should be aiming for "transformational results".
"This requires vision, leadership and financial backing," she said.
The night shelter provided beds, showers, meals and washing machines.
Ms Curran described it as "just a little charity" in urgent need of funding that will help, but not fix, the city’s wider homelessness problem.
The shelter needs $510,000 for building alterations so it can sleep 12 people a night, not six. The changes had building consent, but required funding.
The shelter had turned people away recently because of the shortage of beds. It also had to restrict stays to five nights only, with no return visits for six weeks.
"We get repeat people a lot," Ms Curran said.
"Many find a temporary solution, but it doesn’t work out as they don’t get support they need. It is a revolving door."
This included prisoners released then "back in the crime cycle".
The Dunedin City Council has estimated up to 3000 homeless people are in Dunedin, living precarious existences in doorways, cars, tents, couch surfing and in temporary accommodation such as boarding houses.
Single people, and some couples, could "fall through cracks", Ms Curran said, including people with challenges such as addiction, illness including mental illness, intellectual disability or convictions. Some were young and had exited care — such as 18-year-old homeless teenager "Harry", whose case has been highlighted by the ODT.
Some adults who would otherwise be homeless were provided with "supported living" — a home with additional help they needed.
Unfairly, however, this was not an option for others, who were "left having to navigate health and social agencies without advocacy", Ms Curran said.
It seemed many homeless people had situations that were "in the too hard basket for agencies that are already stretched".
"Some people don’t easily accept help and need intensive one on one support."
The answer was case managers, who had a focus on "relationship building that achieves results" — but there was a shortage of these in Dunedin, she said.
Case managers could work to achieve solutions that were "empowering, build resilience, and give people purpose and agency".
"It is not just about fixing people’s issues for them. It is creating an environment in which they can then thrive and have control of their lives."
Ms Curran said it was heartening that the council had an objective of functional zero homelessness — more people leaving the situation than entering it. However, she called for the council’s responsibilities to be clarified — whether it would "be of a mind to take the lead" alongside other agencies to "enable the delivery of a more comprehensive service."
Ms Curran would welcome an equivalent of the Auckland City Mission in Dunedin.
The mission has recently built HomeGround, an apartment building also containing on-site health and social services. It also has an outreach service that found homeless people and enabled them to accept help.
Ms Curran said Dunedin’s support services could be "quite siloed" because of limited funding and service criteria.
"I would hate to see any charity disappear, but in terms of a strategic model that inter-relates with government, the situation is flawed, and charities can be a bit hand-to-mouth."
Central government funding for services in the South was also "not prioritised" compared with other parts of the country.
No agency in Dunedin is funded to deliver Housing First, the government programme that aims to achieve homes and support for people who have been homeless for at least a year.
The number of homes being built by the council and Kainga Ora were also "not enough".
"People are stuck on waiting lists for housing and their situation can deteriorate in the meantime, with flow-on costs to health and mental health services — and prisons."
Ms Curran was leaving the shelter’s board because of other charity work, but said she would like to come back in the future. An existing board member had taken the chair role.
Ultimately Ms Curran wanted people "all to feel proud of Dunedin — an indicator is how we treat the most vulnerable".
A funding raising page for the night shelter has been set up on Givealittle.
