Emergency housing is becoming entrenched on Rotorua's main road - Fenton Street. Video / RNZ
OPINION:
Some Glenholme and Springfield residents have vowed to try and stop Kāinga Ora from building houses for homeless people on an empty Devon St site.
Kāinga Ora bought 54 Devon St with the intention to build six two-storey homes on the 1280sq m site. Four will be two-bedroom terracehomes and two three-bedroom duplexes.
But more than 30 residents attended a meeting last week expressing concerns about safety and seeking reassurance from Kāinga Ora about how the people who might join their neighbourhoods would be vetted.
I sympathise with them because I wouldn't want terraces or duplexes popping up around my home either out of fear of impacting my view.
I can also understand why anyone living in Rotorua might be nervous about more emergency housing anywhere.
Nearly $70 million has been spent on emergency housing in Rotorua over almost five years and the average stay in motels has stretched to 35 weeks.
While this has put roofs over heads during the pandemic, it has done so at an enormous cost to Rotorua's reputation, and to the feeling of safety, its residents once enjoyed. There are also many drawbacks for those stuck in the motel rooms.
Kirsty Wiringi has been in and out of emergency housing motels since 2020. She dreams of having a safe house so she can build a home with her children, aged 10 months, 5, 10, 11 and 12 - the four eldest of which, for now, can't live with her.
A sign on the empty Devon St section.
It is clear Rotorua needs more houses to end the misery in the motels.
So when an option like the Devon St housing comes up I would have thought that'd make sense.
The residents who oppose this are upset at being made to feel like "Nimbys" for not wanting social housing in their neighbourhood.
They feel it's unfair because many of the residents had worked hard all their lives, paid their taxes and deserved to live in good areas.
We have seen, however, what happens when emergency housing is concentrated in one area of a city. Chaos.
Surely it is far fairer for everyone to split it up, distribute it around in small clusters and make it truly part of neighbourhoods.
It is not unreasonable for Glenholme residents to be gun shy about new emergency housing, given what they have put up with around the motels for three years. It's fair enough that they want assurances from Kāinga Ora about their safety and how it will vet their new neighbours.
But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Rotorua still needs proper homes so vulnerable people aren't forced to live on the street or in cars. These homes have to go somewhere, including into established neighbourhoods.
