Fighting for Rotorua: New housing accord will see emergency housing motels dwindle

The number of mixed-use motels will dwindle to three by New Year, Housing Minister Megan Woods says, after the signing of a new agreement with Rotorua Lakes council and iwi.

The agreement, the Rotorua Housing Accord, also seeks to “progressively reduce the use of motels for emergency housing in Rotorua to near zero”, according to the minister.

Inclement weather prevented Woods’ plane from landing in Rotorua this morning, so the minister joined the ceremony, in Rotorua Lakes Council’s chamber, via video conference from her office in the Beehive.

After the agreement was signed, Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell said the district had felt the effects of emergency housing socially, culturally, environmentally and economically.

“If things continued as they were, Rotorua was set to lose $92 million in tourism spend a year.

“Urgent change is needed. I know that the past two years have been hugely challenging for Rotorua. Our community made a strong call to end the current way emergency housing has been operating. We have heard you, we have listened and we are taking action.”

Housing Accord signing at Rotorua Lakes Council. Te Arawa representative Leith Comer, left, Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell, Ngati Whakaue representative Lauren James and Rotorua deputy mayor Sandra Kai-Fong. Photo / Ben Fraser

She said the accord would provide “practical and visible changes”, some of which - such as a reduction in the number of motels being used for emergency housing - had already begun.

“There are 20 [fewer] motels being used, which is almost a third less than the total number compared to this time last year.”

She said everybody deserved to have a warm, dry and safe place to live.

“A motel room is not a home.”

Via video conference, Woods said the accord brought together the collective wisdom, capability, experience and resources of the Government, iwi and the council to “reduce the use of emergency housing to near zero as soon as possible”.

“There is no question that Rotorua is in a housing crisis ... When we put that into the context of Covid-19, it meant that we have seen far too many people [who] haven’t had that warm, dry, safe place to call home. This has led to overcrowded homes and the risk of people being pushed into homelessness.

“This has, without a shadow of a doubt, had a huge impact on Rotorua and its people, including the mana of Te Arawa overall and Ngāti Whakaue as mana whenua.”

She said the Government was already reducing the number of people in emergency housing motels in Rotorua, the number of motels in use for emergency housing and expected to reduce the number of mixed-use motels - where visitors and emergency housing clients were hosted at the same motel.

She said it would be reduced to “as few as three before Christmas”.

Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell, with Housing Minister Megan Woods appearing via video conference. Photo / Ben Fraser

In a statement earlier in the day, Woods said the accord “seeks to progressively reduce the use of motels for emergency housing in Rotorua to near zero, provide quality delivery of care and wrap-around support to people in emergency accommodation and build more public homes to address the housing shortage in Rotorua”.

The accord states “near zero” would be achieved “as soon as possible”.

After the signing, Tapsell would not be drawn on what “near zero” or “as soon as possible” would mean.

Te Arawa representative Leith Comer said a lot of people involved in emergency housing “are ours”.

“We have to be involved to provide a solution to the crisis.”

He said the accord meant iwi stood alongside the Crown and the council to address it.

“One family in emergency housing is one too many. We have to get them all out of emergency housing and we have to do that as soon as possible.”

Māori represented more than 80 per cent of emergency housing clients in Rotorua at the end of October, according to Ministry of Social Development data.

Ngāti Whakaue representative Lauren James said it was an issue of colonisation.

“That’s where it starts for us. The fact that our people have become removed from whenua, removed from their moana, removed from their awa.

“The Treaty was intended for us to sit here and for our people to be able to rise together, but we haven’t. That’s the reality.

Housing Minister Megan Woods holding her signed Rotorua Housing Accord via video link from the Beehive. Photo / Ben Fraser

“This is not only an issue for te Tiriti, but an issue of colonisation. The fact that Māori continue to sit below all the statistics, whether or not it’s those sitting in emergency housing, whether or not it’s about health.

“The only way that we’re going to find solutions to that is actually if we sit together and we mahi tahi [work together], because we know that we can’t do this alone.

“We have our dreams and aspirations of our people at heart, we want to have a better tomorrow for them.”

In November, when the council considered the draft housing accord in a public-excluded section of its meeting, Tapsell had indicated she wanted the minutes of the discussion made public once the accord was. Local Democracy Reporting requested those minutes on Friday morning.

What it says

The accord, provided to Local Democracy Reporting, has two objectives which will be set out in more detail in the initial work plan.

Objective One: Care and Wellbeing and Management of Emergency Housing.

• To end the use of mixed-use motels or similar accommodation for emergency housing.
• To provide appropriate support for, and actively manage, the individuals and whanau in emergency housing and look out for their care and well-being.
• To ensure individuals and whānau exit emergency housing in an appropriate manner ready and equipped to move into better housing.
• To manage the entry and placement of individuals and whānau into emergency housing.
• To mitigate current, and prevent further, adverse social, cultural, environmental, and economic effects of emergency housing on the Rotorua community.

Objective Two: Housing Supply.

• To build a pipeline that encompasses planning and infrastructure requirements that delivers public, affordable and other housing required to meet Rotorua’s current and future demand.
• To grow the overall volume of housing supply.
• For the Crown and council to actively support those Te Arawa Iwi, hapū, and lands trusts and incorporations that wish to participate in housing supply to do so.
• To ensure new infrastructure and housing supply will be responsive to demand and provide for the long-term social, cultural, environmental and economic wellbeing of Rotorua and its people.

- Local Democracy Reporting is public interest journalism funded by NZ On Air.