Justin Lester is promising to establish New Zealand's first wet house for alcoholics and drug addicts if he wins the Wellington mayoralty next month.
Justin Lester says he is committed to economic growth in Wellington. Photo: RNZ / Michael Cropp
A wet house is a residential facility where alcoholics can continue to drink.
Mr Lester said research showed alcoholics could reduce their consumption of alcohol if they had the support of a wet house.
Plans to set up a wet house in Wellington in 2009 were shelved when funding could not be found.
Capital and Coast District Health Board and Wellington City Council each gave a trust for the project $250,000, but the trust pulled out after the DHB demanded a five-year business model instead of the previously agreed 12-month plan.
Mr Lester said his policy would reduce homelessness and begging on the streets, and he would also commit to increasing affordable housing for Wellington's homeless.