Homeless people are now officially exempt from freedom camping laws. Photo / John Borren
A fed-up Pāpāmoa resident claims a house bus was “commandeering” a beachside freedom camping spot on and off for a year and “human excrement” was often found in a loo-less nearby reserve where children play.
A social services provider says homeless people living long-term at Tauranga reserves are “showing up everywhere” and a community group leader fears the government officially exempting them from freedom camping laws may lead to “widespread abuse” of the areas.
The Government, however, says it never intended the laws to target homeless people and instead encouraged local authorities to direct them to appropriate social service agencies — which the local council says it has done for the person in the house bus.
A Pāpāmoa resident, who did not want to be named due to fear of retribution, said he made multiple complaints about a person living in a house bus that had been parked at a freedom camping spot in Pāpāmoa on and off for the past year.
The man, who had lived in Pāpāmoa for more than 40 years, said the bus would sometimes be parked up for months at a time.
He believed it was “flouting council bylaws” and taking away the rights of freedom campers wanting to use the spot.
“This is a pristine piece of New Zealand land and they are commandeering it,” he said.
He and fellow pensioners often walked their dogs on the adjoining reserve and picked up rubbish to keep it tidy.
“We take pride in where we live,” he said.
He said he often found what he believed to be “human excrement” on the ground, saying there were no ablution blocks on the reserve.
“Children play there. It is disgusting.”
The house bus had moved on, he said, but it had “disappeared” before only to return days later.
He said he had no problem with those who pitched tents or slept rough and moved on the next day.
“If they are going to be in that situation [being homeless] they have to be put in a zone where there are toilets. If they don’t like it, well that is tough luck.
“The council have to put their foot down and do the right thing by the ratepayer.”
Te Tuinga Whānau Support Services Trust executive director Tommy Wilson said he had noticed “many more” homeless people setting up what appeared to be permanent homes at places such as Memorial Park and Sulphur Point.
“They are showing up everywhere,” he said. “What can [the] council do? They can’t move them anywhere else.”
Wilson said, in his view, it was a result of a shortage of short and long-term emergency accommodation.
“It is moving further to Pāpāmoa, and it will soon be out to Ōmokoroa.”
He said it would be easier for social services to triage and provide support to those people if they were in one spot.
He said it was good homeless people were exempt from freedom camping rules but he could also see backpackers exploiting that.
Tauranga City Council’s Freedom Camping Bylaw was first adopted in 2013 to set rules and define where freedom camping is allowed or prohibited. It was updated in 2019.
The maximum stay allowed in any one park, reserve, council car park or street is two nights per month.
Council regulation monitoring team leader Stuart Goodman said people experiencing homelessness were now officially exempt from complying with the Freedom Camping Act and subsequent bylaws, including Tauranga’s.
Goodman said the official clarification came via the new Self-contained Motor Vehicles Legislation Act, which amended the Freedom Camping Act. .
The council, however, had also not been using its “freedom camping bylaw as a tool to manage homelessness” prior to that clarification, he said.
He said the council was aware of the person living in a house bus.
The person was not a freedom camper but was “experiencing homelessness”.
“We have encouraged this individual to move and connected them to support agencies,” he said.
“We encourage the community to report any incidents of public indecency or antisocial behaviour to the police.”
Goodman said the council had received seven complaints regarding homelessness and vehicles breaching the freedom camping bylaw in the Pāpāmoa area the resident spoke about, in the past 12 months.
In the last financial year, he said it had 344 complaints about homelessness across the city.
“Complaints range from the impact of homeless, antisocial behaviour, homeless people being unwelcome, and concerns for the wellbeing of people experiencing homeless.”
Pāpāmoa Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman Philip Brown described the freedom camping clarification as an “imposition by the Government” and said it may lead to “widespread abuse” of those areas.
“If living in vehicles is a government-approved solution then the Government should consider setting up parks with toilet facilities etc. for these people to use and stay longer.”
Brown emailed members of the association about the issue and sent the Bay of Plenty Times a dozen concerned responses.
One said they sympathised with the homeless but, in their view, exempting them from freedom camping rules was a “pathetic cop-out by yet another woke public service”.
A regular freedom camper of seven years said if they find homeless people on a site they did not feel safe and would move.
“I am concerned that this change in policy will be detrimental to the area in numerous ways.”
Another believed that as soon as campers found homeless people were exempt, “they will all use that as an excuse”.
Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) manager of tourism operations and partnerships, Dale Elvy, said the new Act had “simply clarified”, not changed, the intent of the Freedom Camping Act 2011 with regard to homelessness.
“Local government has other legal recourse to combat undesirable behaviour on their land, including issuing trespass notices.”
Elvy said concerns were raised during the public consultation and select committee process on recent law changes for freedom camping, which received more than 700 submissions.
These included whether guidance alone was enough to ensure homeless people were not caught in the Act’s infringement regime for freedom camping, Elvy said.
“As a result, the law was clarified so that people experiencing homelessness were exempt from infringements relating to freedom camping, such as having a current certificate for their vehicle.”
Elvy said the Freedom Camping Act was never intended to target those experiencing homelessness.
After the law changes were enacted on June 6, MBIE issued updated guidance for local authorities to apply discretion and not to penalise people experiencing homelessness and instead direct them to appropriate social service agencies, Elvy said.
“The new laws also require the Government to review the impact of the law changes on those experiencing homelessness two years after enactment.
“This is to ensure that the Act is not having negative consequences for communities and those experiencing homelessness.”
Zoe Hunter is an assistant news director covering business and property news for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has worked for NZME since 2017.
Police recovered a stolen silver Mazda used in the robbery.