Carolyne Hall says Fenton St has improved significantly in recent times. Photo / Andrew Warner
Carolyne Hall says Fenton St has improved significantly in recent times. Photo / Andrew Warner
A tightening of contracted emergency housing rules is having a positive impact on Rotorua, residents say.
Resource consents with tougher conditions were granted last year for 13 contracted emergency housing motels for two years.
It meant as of February 1, 2023, the 13 motels were legally bound to operateunder the much stricter conditions. Among those was a heavy focus on better interaction with the community, a ban on dogs and the removal of motel signage.
The motels were previously operating outside the Rotorua District Plan, as motels were only allowed to have short-term visitors.
The new conditions came about following a lengthy resource consent hearing process last year where, for the first time, members of the public, schools and business owners spoke about the impacts emergency housing was having on them.
More than two months since the conditions took effect, local residents and business owners say they are happier, with one resident who was previously wanting to move away from Glenholme now looking to take her property off the market.
Carolyne Hall spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post in February about improvements she had noticed since the number of households in emergency housing had at that time almost halved. Now, the stricter consent conditions were also having a positive impact, she said.
During the height of problems for Glenholme residents at the start of last year, Hall wanted to leave the suburb.
She said her home had been on the market but it wasn’t selling. She had been told by real estate agents it was too close to emergency housing motels to appeal to would-be buyers and would have a better chance once the contracts ended.
But Hall was now happy to stay - at least for another two years.
Watchdog Security chief executive Brett Wilson, who had previously been vocal about the issues emergency housing on Fenton St had created, said there had been an improvement in light of the resource consent changes.
Watchdog Security chief executive Brett Wilson. Photo / Andrew Warner
Wilson’s business was used by local businesses, including McDonald’s on Fenton St, and had a contract with Rotorua Lakes Council to do foot patrols.
“It’s 100 per cent improved. It’s a lot tidier than it was. Reports of break-ins in cars and prowlers around houses in Glenholme have also gone down.”
Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook saidthe new conditions appeared to be working.
“It’s going okay at the moment, and the motels seem to be being kept reasonably tidy.”
Council district development deputy chief executive Jean-Paul Gaston said the conditions came into effect when the appeal date was passed, which was on February 1. There were no appeals to the independent commissioner’s decision to grant the consents.
“Council is visiting each establishment to confirm conditions are being met.”
According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development’s latest temporary housing dashboard for Rotorua in February, there were still 16 non-contracted emergency housing motels operating in Rotorua. These are motels where the Ministry of Social Development can pay for people to stay if they have nowhere else to go.
Gaston said no former non-contracted motels had applied for resource consent to operate as an emergency housing provider.
He said the council’s role was a regulatory one - ensuring accommodation providers had the appropriate consents for the activity they were undertaking.
It was working through a phased approach to ensure all motels had appropriate consents.
“This work is ongoing.”
The motels recently granted consent are Alpin Motel (Sala St), Emerald Spa (Fenton St) Geneva Motor Lodge (Fenton St), Malones Motel (Fenton St), Midway Motel (Fenton St), New Castle (Ward Ave), Pohutu Lodge (Meade St) Lake Rotorua Hotel (Lake Rd), Ascot on Fenton (Fenton St), Rotovegas Motel (Fenton St), Ann’s Volcanic Motel (Malfroy Rd), Union Victoria (Victoria St) and Apollo Hotel (Tyron St).
The consent conditions
Setting up a Community Liaison Group for the duration of the consent that will include three community members, one tourism representative and one member of Restore Rotorua. They are to meet at least every six months. Six-monthly meetings must also be held with the council to give updates on the conditions and assess if the demand was still enough to keep the contract going for the full two years.
Some consents include meeting within a month with Whakarewarewa Village and Te Puia representatives and offering to have six-monthly meetings after that.
Consent holder to remove motel signage and online advertising.
Banning dogs in the motels.
A site manager is present 24/7 and a contact person is appointed to always be available to the council.
Daily maintenance of grounds, programmed maintenance of buildings and control of noise.
Paying a consent fee to the council to ensure ratepayers aren’t burdened with the cost of monitoring the consents.
Drawing up a site management plan within a month.
Outlining procedures for placing people in the motel including confirming those put there are primarily families with children, young people, people with disabilities and the elderly.
Outlining management of people whose behaviour might create an unacceptable risk to other occupants.
