Sue Bagshaw is fundraising to build a Christchurch youth hub on an old bowling green site.

A multimillion dollar youth hub to address a rise in Christchurch youth homelessness and mental health issues is on the cards after years of battling to get the project off the ground.

Youth Hub Trust chairwoman Sue Bagshaw has been trying to find suitable land since 2015 to build a one-stop-shop for teenagers and young adults including youth health, counselling, social and employment services as well as emergency accommodation.

Anglican Care, the Anglican Church's social service agency, stepped in to help last year and bought the old bowling club site on Salisbury St in central Christchurch for $4 million.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF Youth Hub Trust chair Sue Bagshaw is fundraising to build a hub for Christchurch youth including health, employment, recreation and accommodation services.

The trust will lease the 4500 square metres land to build a youth hub including accommodation for 20 people.

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Bagshaw said the trust needed to fundraise $10m – through local and central Government and charity – to build the hub.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF Anglican Care bought the old Canterbury Bowling Club land on Salisbury St for the hub, to support the trust.

Bagshaw, who runs the 298 Youth Health Service, has grappled to keep up with an unprecedented number of clients over the last three years.

It regularly closed its books as as hundreds of young people sought its medical and counselling help.

The new hub would expand 298 Youth Health with more desperately-needed services and accommodation.

A Christchurch City Council street count last year found 215 people were sleeping rough in the city, some as young as 12 with addiction issues.

A survey of the 1500 people attending 298 Youth Health between July 2014 and April 2015 showed 42 per cent were experiencing "major housing issues".

About 40 per cent of the 250 teenagers receiving the Youth Payment or Young Parent Payment in that period described themselves as "technically homeless".

"We probably need way more than 20 beds," Bagshaw said.

Many of the homeless young people had been in foster care and needed a place to transition from that to independent living, she said.

Others were going through "strife with their family" and were couch-surfing or living in the streets.

"We want to give them space to sort out their head."

Stacey Galyer, 16, was referred to 298 Youth Health last year by her school counsellor.

She had been suffering from anxiety and depression and was struggling to cope in an emotionally-abusive household, she said.

"I needed to get out of my house and get away . . . to focus on my mental health," she said.

"I felt really trapped, but there was nowhere for me to go."

Galyer saw Bagshaw fortnightly at 298 Youth Health for several months. She now lived with one of her parents and felt more settled, but believed the youth hub would be beneficial for young people struggling with their mental health.

"It will give them a feeling of safety and community," she said.

Anglican Bishop Victoria Matthews said she was "delighted" the church could help.

Bagshaw said the Youth Hub Trust approached several organisations that owned vacant central Christchurch land.

Anglican Care was keen to help, but did not own a parcel of land large enough for the hub so bought the vacant Salisbury St site.

"It was an immensely generous thing for them to do," Bagshaw said.

The trust would seek the necessary resource consents, cost the site designs and build a business case. It would invite Canterbury's youth to submit ideas for the design.

Bagshaw had approached Oranga Tamariki and the Christchurch City Council for financial support.

"It's a community effort," she said.

Bishop Victoria Matthews will officially carry out a ground blessing at the site, 109 Salisbury Street, on March 22nd at 4pm, which will mark the launch of the official fundraising campaign to build the new youth hub.