When asked where cutbacks would be made if Labour were to win September's election, Mr Little said the Government was spending a "phenomenal" amount on emergency housing.
"$100,000 a day is being spent putting people in motels for emergency housing."
At the end of Mr Little's session Rotorua Chamber of Commerce president John McRae spoke of Rotorua's strong leadership, growth, and capital, but said the city needed some good ideas to ignite the cycle.
"We need to be more innovative to create more value."
Talking to the Rotorua Daily Post after the event, Mr Little answered questions on housing, health and immigration.
On what specific steps would be taken to improve the "housing crisis" in Rotorua, Mr Little said Labour's policy was KiwiBuild - 100,00 affordable houses over 10 years for first-home buyers.
"Half of those will go to Auckland, the other half around the country based on need so there will be some KiwiBuild homes in Rotorua. Added to that, we will be saying to Housing New Zealand it's got to add to and upgrade the existing social housing that it needs to meet demand."
Following the recent terror attacks in the UK, Mr Little said the Government had to be constantly vigilant and make sure New Zealand's security agencies were able to do their job.
"There is always going to be a fine line between taking steps to keep everybody safe and secure and intruding on people's privacy. As the risks get higher the acceptance is that security agencies may do stuff that looks like it's interfering in privacy [but that] becomes more justifiable."
The issue of immigration was an important one for Mr Little.
"We have a high volume of people coming in at a time we have a chronic shortage of housing and have a pressure on infrastructure - we need to manage it better and take a breather in some areas, and slow it down a bit to allow us to do the things we need to do, to catch up so we can accommodate the people who are here."
Mr Little said Lakes District Health Board, like other district health boards around the country, was suffering from under-resourcing.
"We want better resources, especially in the area of mental health which is our priority."
He said he would be back in Rotorua "at least once, if not more" before September.
While in town, Mr Little also spoke to the Dairy Workers Union.