The national agency would be widely criticised if it was taking no action to rehouse people away from motels and into other accommodation developments around the city.
It is a Rotorua problem involving Rotorua people and ratepayers will have to accept that decisions made to address the issue won't always be as palatable as they would like.
Simon Earle
Rotorua
Why would you want to be a landlord?
A revolutionary list of 10 new rules submitted by a new Wellington tenant advocacy group is, in my view, reckless, and I believe that those changes would result in landlords selling up and leaving possible tenants with nowhere to live, so not a very smart idea.
The proposed changes include all rent prices permanently lowered to 25 per cent of the lowest benefit; landlords must provide evidence they're addressing repairs, including accessibility issues, within one week of being notified by tenants; tenants in substandard housing must be appropriately relocated at the landlord's expense during major repairs or renovations; and minimum tenancy length of five years. Tenants may exit at will.
Being a landlord is voluntary, so if the rules get too crazy, why would you want to be one?
Richard Evans
Lynmore
Human nature to take advantage of a situation
This morning's Daily Post greeted me with its Premium Debate on the subject of price gouging and attributes the practice to the opportunity offered by the rise in inflation that supposedly masks this activity (Opinion, July 28).
Well yes, I do agree that inflation can be used to hide this profiteering, but I wish to also point out that this is simply human nature taking advantage of a situation that presents itself.
Each and every one of us have a predisposition toward looking after No 1 first and foremost.
Sometimes it's depicted as the survival instinct and that's mostly a good thing, but the other side of this coin is the selfishness that afflicts us all, that "what's in it for me" thing.
There are very few examples of lives consistently lived for others and I dare to say that if we truly delved into those examples we'd find some appalling inconsistencies.
There's only One that springs to mind, Jesus Christ, and His story has stood the test of time.
John Williams
Ngongotahā
Reserves referendum an excellent idea
Having watched the stream of some of the in-person submissions on Rotorua Lakes Council's proposal to sell off selected reserve sites, I was struck by a submitter's suggestion for a referendum.
What an excellent idea a referendum is.
I would suggest that there is still time for such a referendum on the reserves issue to be included with the voting papers for the upcoming local body elections.
I do not believe this council should be making any decisions on important issues such as the future of these reserve sites at this time.
Any such decisions should be left to the incoming council.
And by having a referendum as part of the voting papers the incoming council would have a very clear indication of Rotorua residents' views on this matter.
Finally, given the traditionally low voter interest in recent council elections, including a reserves referendum could also encourage many more people to vote.
Sue Wilkie
Rotorua
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