A community group is disgusted the majority of alcohol off-licences in Rotorua are in the city's most deprived areas.
Rotorua Lakes Council data shows there are 58 off-licensed alcohol premises in the city including liquor stores, supermarkets and speciality stores.
Of these, 39 are in areas with a deprivation index score of eight or higher and just three had an index lower than six.
The figure excludes the 130 on-licence sites where alcohol can be bought and drunk onsite.
In total, 67 per cent of the alcohol off-licences in Rotorua are in the most deprived areas.
Fordlands is a community with the highest possible deprivation - 10 - and has two off-licences almost side-by-side on the corner of Ford Rd.
Another store is 300 metres, or a four-minute walk, away on Malfroy Rd and there are two on nearby Sunset Rd.
Fordlands Community Centre programme manager Maraea Pomana said, in her opinion, the percentage was "disgusting".
"That makes me really angry."
The community group previously petitioned against the licence renewal of Liquor Barn Ford Rd but nothing came of it, and The Bottle-O Sunset Rd had also been petitioned in the past.
Pomana said alcohol was a symptom of underlying community issues such as unemployment or poor education outcomes and consumption was often out of boredom.
"The issue is systemic. It's allowing an area to be in a deprived state.
"We actually need a whole redesign that encourages and gives our people easier access to things."
She said the group wanted a community hub and programmes at the site "so we can change things around for our community".
Pomana believed the community would also benefit from a medical centre or a laundromat.
The community group was already working to get people employed and keep kids in school. Pomana said this would help with addiction and give people "a sense of hope".
A Liquor Barn spokesperson said no one from the community had spoken to them about their concerns or how they could help.
The store was a family business bought in March. They said as it was independent, they could make decisions to sponsor things that would benefit the community.
The spokesperson declined to comment on the effects of alcohol stores in low deprivation areas.
District Licensing Committee commissioner Karen Hunt said all of Rotorua's off-licences in low deprivation areas had been there a "very long time".
She said the committee made decisions on licence renewals and grants based on the information presented and the community could object in writing.
Hunt said community deprivation was considered by the committee and some licence applications had been declined on that basis.
The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 was put in place with the goal to give more power back to communities. The local policy was implemented in 2019.
However, Hunt believed the current Act needed reviewing as the goal "has not had that effect".
Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency chairwoman and Rotorua Lakes councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait questioned the motives behind placing alcohol stores where they were.
"If we really cared about vulnerable families why were so many off-licences granted in the areas where they live?" she said.
She said, in her view: ''We say we care about vulnerable families but our actions say otherwise."
However, she said it was wrong to say alcohol was only a problem in the poorest communities.
"There are more off-licence premises in these areas, certainly ... but alcohol harm is not just a problem because of where you live."
She said the nation had a history of high tolerance to alcohol consumption and there were no social or class barriers in the harms caused.
Raukawa-Tait wanted children educated about developing a healthy respect for alcohol.
Te Utuhina Manaaki Ora group manager Marita Ranclaud wants to see more done to support vulnerable communities against all addiction-related harm.
The service provides alcohol and drug treatment, seeing "many people and whole families" impacted - financially, relationship difficulties, involvement in crime, and losing driver's licences.
It also increasingly saw the "terrible" flow-on effects of family violence.
She said it was "highly concerning" to see most of the stores were in the highest deprivation areas.
Last month New Zealand's 20 District Health Boards called for an urgent review and changes to the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 saying it had failed to minimise alcohol-related harm.
Ranclaud said this was a good start.
Lifewise Rotorua regional manager Haehaetu Barrett wanted a focus on better outcomes for people living with and experiencing homelessness including permanent, affordable housing for everyone.
"When there is a lack of consideration for ensuring people's wellbeing and health and safety, the increased number of places selling alcohol becomes a problem."
She said alcohol was connected to poverty and broken whānau relationships.
"When you have this many liquor stores in one region the matter is only compounded."
She said Lifewise advocated for a holistic, whānau and iwi-led approach to harm reduction and addressing the effects of addiction.
Salvation Army social policy and parliamentary unit analyst Ana Ika agreed that alcohol was linked to issues such as financial hardship, food insecurity, family violence and other drug addictions.
"Our whānau in low socio-economic communities are already predisposed to these challenges, and the excessive availability of alcohol perpetuates these challenges for them.
Ika said the group believed the [Sale and Supply of Alcohol] Act did not do enough to empower and support communities who are often under-resourced to "keep bottle stores out of their communities".
As a result, it was seeing more bottle stores in these communities.
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