Today Christopher Luxon spoke at the party’s Central North Island region conference at Arawa Park Hotel Rotorua. Photo / Michaela Pointon
Today Christopher Luxon spoke at the party’s Central North Island region conference at Arawa Park Hotel Rotorua. Photo / Michaela Pointon
New National Party plans to help fix New Zealand’s “critical” housing crisis will help draw more people to Rotorua, says a community advocate.
National leader Christopher Luxon was in Rotorua on Sunday speaking at the party’s Central North Island region conference at Arawa Park Hotel.
Luxon told media afterward that he believed a failure to build enough houses over the last 30 years had impacted “all aspects of New Zealand society” including social inequality and intergenerational inequality.
“A simple fact is we must and we have to build more houses. Just like the cost of living, we need to underline what it costs to build a house,” Luxon said.
“National is going to fix New Zealand’s housing crisis by unlocking land inside and around cities.
“We are going to make sure communities share the benefits of growth.”
Asked how National planned to address Rotorua’s emergency housing situation, he responded by saying “build houses”.
Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook. Photo / Andrew Warner
“We have to make sure that we get the private rental market working again. I have spoken with people in emergency housing here in Rotorua that were in the private rental market that fell out of this because there was more cost being added to their weekly rent.”
Last year, Rotorua Lakes Council held hearings where hundreds of local residents made submissions that expressed feelings of being unsafe, witnessing fights, domestic violence and drug deals. The anti-social behaviour was largely believed to be linked to emergency housing.
Among those who made submissions was Restore Rotorua - a community advocacy group. The group has long been vocal with concerns about the city’s emergency accommodation situation and the impact it had on the city, tourism, and local economy.
Chairman Trevor Newbrook spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post about National’s plans, in his capacity as representative of the group.
Newbrook is also National’s board chairperson for campaigning this year.
Newbrook said National’s $25,000 council incentive for every new build delivered above the five-year average was “Great incentive money that can be used for things that are good for communities”.
“Hopefully, they use it where people want it.”
Newbrook said the party’s New Growth Plan would “help but the bigger picture” to encourage people to move to Rotorua.
Attracting more business people, families and “people who want to use our mountain biking tracks” among other activities was important for the development of the region, he said.
Newbrook said he believed the New Growth Fund would support this and “make Rotorua more appealing for people to come and live here”.
There are 13 contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua that come under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and are run by contracted social services providers such as Wera Aotearoa Charitable Trust and Visions of a Helping Hand.
Rotorua also has two Government-run Covid-19 response motels (Tuscany Villas and Four Canoes Hotel) and one transitional housing motel (the former Boulevard Motel now called 2six5 on Fenton).
Today Christopher Luxon spoke at the party’s Central North Island region conference at Arawa Park Hotel Rotorua. Photo / Michaela Pointon
Figures provided to the Rotorua Daily Post by Kāinga Ora showed it built 46 new public homes in Rotorua last year. Overall, the number of public homes rose by 37 (from 678 to 715). Nine homes were demolished as they were not deemed suitable.
