Editorial: City's new shelter deserves a chance

It's been more than 10 years but Rotorua looks set to finally get a shelter for our homeless.

The Rotorua Community Nightshelter Trust has secured a modest residential property in Rotorua close to the central city, where those needing a place to bunk down can sleep.

It's not intended to be a permanent home. It is a shelter for the needy and will operate only a few days a week because of funding limitations.

The location of the shelter is yet to be revealed but neighbours should be hearing from the trust's members within a fortnight. Rightly, the trust has decided to inform those living close by before making the location public.

The homeless have long had a tough battle in Rotorua. Not only is our city one of the few places that doesn't offer a homeless shelter but their favourite sleepouts - in the warm thermal areas of Kuirau Park, the Government Gardens and the Rotorua Lakefront - have been made no-go zones by the Rotorua District Council.

In early 2009, about 15 of the city's homeless were issued with trespass notices banning them from those areas after complaints from the public about crimes being committed and people intimidated.

It was the right move. Our homeless shouldn't be loitering around our tourist and family spots. It's not a good look.

But where else in Rotorua are they to go? Soon, they will have somewhere.

News of the shelter has been welcomed by some of the estimated 20 homeless in Rotorua. In Saturday's edition of The Daily Post, our reporter Cherie Taylor spoke to some of those living on the streets.

Their stories made for sad reading.

You could shun the homeless and say there are no excuses for their way of living given our relatively generous welfare system but some of these people aren't even capable of keeping a benefit because one of the requirements is to have a fixed abode. For whatever reasons (and many of them are mental health issues), some are not capable of maintaining that responsibility so choose instead to live on the streets.

Let's face it, if the homeless shelter is to be next to your house, you're probably not going to be too thrilled about it.

But let's give these people, and the trust trying to help them, a chance. The beauty of such a plan is, if it doesn't work, we can close the door.