A new health hub for youth including mental health, medical and housing support is being planned for Christchurch.
The Anglican Church bought an acre of land in the CBD last year in order to lease it back to the newly-established Youth Hub Trust to launch the project.
In what's believed to be a New Zealand first, the health hub will provide desperately-needed transition housing on site, and there are plans to construct purpose-built accommodation to support 20 young people waiting for more permanent housing.
Youth Hub Trust chair Dr Sue Bagshaw said the facility is desperately needed - as is funding from both the public and government.
"We have more and more young people suffering with their mental health going wrong, we have more and more pressures on young people ... particularly in Christchurch after the earthquakes," Dr Bagshaw said.
Dr Baghshaw said 15 similar youth centres exist across New Zealand, but the one in Christchurch would be the first to include accommodation.
"We're going to need a lot of money - so we want people to dig deep, from government to business to the community - we need about $10m at a rough guess," she said.
We feel though that this is really important ... if we want good responsible citizens we need to support people growing up."
Christchurch's Anglican Bishop, The Right Reverend Victoria Matthews, will officially carry out a blessing at the site on Thursday March 22.
The ceremony will also mark the launch of the official fund raising campaign.
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