The Māngere refugee resettlement centre will need some work done before it can take in 500 new refugees, an expert says.
Dr Ann Hood from support group Refugees as Survivors told The AM Show new accommodation blocks being built means the centre should have room from 2019 but other services won't be sufficient.
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"The accommodation will be ready [next year], but there's a lot more than accommodation required to the resettlement programme," she said.
"We need more classrooms and more teachers, we have a health service which provides health assessment and vaccinations so we will need increased health services.
"Our service is a mental health service so we provide assessments and support while people are at Māngere and then we provide connections to the community so when they go in to their resettlement locations they have the services they need."
Dr Hood said she wasn't sure how many new resources would be necessary but estimated the centre could need two more classrooms and plenty of clinicians.
Though what she thinks will be desperately needed with the quota jump is money from the Government.
"We're currently not managing with the money that we have so we will be certainly hoping that the Government resources adequately," she said.
"It also goes beyond Māngere [too] because this is also out into the resettlement locations and we need a whole of Government approach there. We need health, education, social services coming to the party."
Newshub.
