Emergency housing woes in Rotorua as summer's peak demand hits

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People needing emergency housing may find themselves stranded as Rotorua's accommodation fills up coming into the silly season.

As figures released to the Rotorua Daily Post show $561,000 has been spent on emergency housing, Rotorua's accommodation sector says it will struggle to house people as the accommodation sector heads into its peak time.

Rotorua Association of Motels chairman Mike Gallagher said coming into summer it would be hard to house people in emergency housing situations because motels were already filling up with tourists.

"At this time of year the town booms up with tourism going nuts and I think Rotorua is in for a couple of really good years when it comes to tourism.

"Overall I'd say the motels will find it hard to house people because they are really busy," he said.

Cactus Jacks Backpackers owner Paul O'Connor said he believed the issue around homelessness was still as bad as it ever was.

Back in September Mr O'Connor told the Rotorua Daily Post he was no longer taking people who needed emergency housing because they caused too much trouble.

"I get people coming in here asking how much it is for a bed for one night and they can't afford it. The look of dismay is not nice, it's especially true when there is a lot of rain.

"The Government needs to address it and buy a suitable place that will house a number of people, but nobody is taking ownership. They bought a motel in Auckland, but this problem isn't only in Auckland, it's everywhere - and what are they going to do? Go around buying all the motels?" Mr O'Connor said.

Associate deputy chief executive of social housing Kay Read said as part of the 2016 budget, the Government introduced a new special needs grant for emergency housing, which didn't need to be paid back.

Statistics given to the Rotorua Daily Post show that at the end of the September quarter for 2016 the Ministry of Social Development had granted about 700 emergency housing special needs grants to 230 distinct clients in the Bay of Plenty region, at the cost of about $561,000.

Ms Read said people receiving this help could stay in paid temporary accommodation for seven days at a time.

"However, we can extend this if they haven't been able to find alternative accommodation."

She said that ahead of the busy summer season they would be working with those currently staying in accommodation to help find them alternative accommodation.

"Ideally this would be longer-term housing, either privately or in social housing. If this isn't possible we'll be asking clients to consider all their options, including staying with friends and family.

"We'd encourage anyone who is concerned about housing to get in touch with us now so that we have time to work towards a solution."

She said the ministry would prefer to work with people before they needed emergency housing by supporting them into sustainable private rentals or social housing, but help was available for people in immediate need.

"We don't have a wait list for emergency housing. Our focus is on making sure that people have a warm, safe place to stay immediately while we work with them to find something more permanent."

Love Soup Rotorua co-founder Elmer Peiffer said the issue of homelessness in Rotorua had levelled out.

"There hasn't been an increase, but there hasn't been a decrease either."

He said that three months ago they were getting around three to five families in a day, whereas now they were getting only about two to three a week.

"But there is still a major housing issue. We are fighting to get sustainable housing and get the most vulnerable off the street, but the housing is just not there."

Community agencies that can help:
Te Arawa Whanau Ora: 07 213 1995
Love Soup Rotorua: Gina Peiffer (020) 402 95203
Rotorua Salvation Army Community Ministries: (07) 346 8113
Lifewise Rotorua - Lifewise Mental Health and Addictions Services: (07) 3486 239