After councillors raised concerns about the crisis in a housing committee meeting last month, Mr Radich said the situation had "triggered me into a solution" and he hoped to start talking about it within weeks.
After multiple tip-offs to the Otago Daily Times, Mr Radich yesterday confirmed the fenced-off and empty holiday park in Kaikorai Valley Rd, owned by the government’s housing agency Kāinga Ora, was his pick to home the homeless.
The mayor stressed that he wanted a plan to achieve both a roof and support. He had done a "needs assessment" of the people most likely to need to stay there.
"The key thing is to provide appropriate wrap-around support. It is not a dump-and-run. What will not happen is that people will be picked up, dropped there and told ‘see you later’.
"So far it is going well and people have indicated a willingness to have a joined-up conversation and that’s great — the next step is to access the property," the mayor said.
The park was bought by Kāinga Ora for more than $4 million less than three years ago. After being used as a supported isolation and quarantine (SIQ) facility, it has remained empty, gathering weeds and leaving the public wondering about its future.
When the housing agency bought the park, it said it was considering a "number of interim uses". However, none have been realised and Kāinga Ora yesterday confirmed that no consent applications had been submitted to the council for the site’s development.
Prior to being an SIQ facility, the 1.6ha park hosted up to 250 people mainly in tents and vans. It has 20 self-contained motel units and 14 more rooms, according to former owner Lindsay McLeod.
Mr McLeod said he was sceptical about the site’s potential as a social housing development as it had two streams running through it and six springs had popped up during the 30 years he owned it.
"If housing development was appropriate, it would have happened years ago," he said.
"Maybe someone in Wellington thought it was a good idea because it is large and on a bus route."
The site should revert to being a holiday park, he argued.
Kāinga Ora acting regional director Mel Park said the housing agency had been "undertaking robust due diligence to assess how the site could be developed for housing, to determine its future use". However, while the agency continued to work through options, costs of building had risen significantly.
Ms Park said extensive upgrades would be required to enable existing buildings to pass a building warrant of fitness.
"Given the time and cost realities of the work required to enable the buildings to be used to house people, there is no consideration being given to using this site for temporary or emergency housing."
Mr Radich admitted there were "lots of difficulties" to be overcome, including government departments working in "silos". However, he said he had established good communications with three departments and four community housing providers, including the Salvation Army, Comcare Trust and Just Housing Ōtepoti, which is run by Presbyterian Support Otago.
Comcare Trust chief executive Martin Cole said his staff had been talking with the council’s housing team.
"We are more than willing to be one of the agencies to keep the dialogue open to find solutions to meet the evident needs in Dunedin."
