Rotorua motels for more than 1000 homeless: Submissions open for resource consent applications

The motels that are seeking resource consent to be Government-contracted operators for emegency housing. Photos / Andrew Warner

The Government is seeking sign-off on five-year consents allowing up to 1008 people at a time to stay across 12 Rotorua motels contracted for emergency housing.

The five-year period has concerned locals and one lobby group wants people to "step up and speak out" about the applications.

The Government says using a shorter period would risk having to reapply, and motels are better than having people sleep on the street.

Applications for resource consent for the 12 motels to be used as emergency housing have been publicly notified and reveal for the first time where the motels will be located and how many homeless they intend to cater for.

Eleven of the 12 motels are in the Fenton St, Glenholme, Fenton Park and Victoria areas of Rotorua.

Those who have been fighting to have the consent process open for public feedback are now urging locals to lodge submissions so that their voices can be heard.

The 12 applications, made by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to the Rotorua Lakes Council, were publicly notified in the Rotorua Daily Post Weekend public notices section on Saturday.

Contracted motels are part of the Government's shake-up of the emergency housing system announced for Rotorua last year.

Motels already operating under ministry contracts are unlawful as the district plan only consents them to have short-term visitors staying.

The resource consent applications aimed to remedy that situation, given emergency housing clients often stay for several months.

The council is taking action against motel operators not contracted by the Government that host emergency housing clients but have not sought proper consent.

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The names of the motels seeking consent were revealed in Saturday's advertisements and include RotoVegas Motel, Midway Motel, Malones Motel, Geneva Motor Lodge and Ascot on Fenton, which are all on Fenton St - the southern main entrance to Rotorua.

The other motels include Union Victoria Motel on Victoria St, Pohutu Lodge on Mead St, Newcastle Motor Lodge on Ward Ave, Lake Rotorua Hotel on Lake Rd, Apollo Hotel on Tyron St, Alpin Motel on Sala St and Ann's Volcanic Motel on Malfroy Rd.

Each application states how many occupants and motel units the motels can cater for.

If all 12 motels got the go-ahead, they would be approved to have 1008 occupants in 301 motel units.

Each application stated it was for resource consent to use the site and existing buildings for contracted emergency housing for five years.

The applications also said there would be on-site support service providers and 24/7 security. Six of the motels would come under Visions of a Helping Hand, three come under Wera Aotearoa and three with Emerge Aotearoa.

The notices said anyone wanting to submit on some or all of the applications needed to fill out a separate submission for each, identifying the reasons for their submission.

Submissions close at 5pm on July 11.

Resident advocate Jenny Peace. Photo / Andrew Warner

Resident advocate Jenny Peace, who started a petition to get the resource consent period publicly notified, said the past two years had felt like a long time to deal with living among so much emergency housing in Rotorua - let alone another five years.

"The five-year period of consent is of major concern to me. The damage that has been done already to our city . . . what's that going to look like in five years' time?"

She urged everyone impacted by emergency housing to "step up and speak out".

"This is not OK."

Peace said she was concerned the submission process was unnecessarily difficult for "the average Joe Citizen".

"Having to fill out a separate submission for each property is ridiculous."

In response, council planning and development solutions manager Jason Ward said the 12 applications were for individual properties and must be dealt with individually, including notification and submissions.

Lobby Group Restore Rotorua was formed last year after it became known the Government had bought Boulevard Motel on Fenton St for $8.1 million for up to 80 homeless people. The resource consent was approved by the council without the public's knowledge.

Since then, Restore Rotorua has fought for the application process for the other 12 motels to be publicly notified - meaning the public gets to have a say about whether they are approved.

Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook. Photo / Andrew Warner

Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook said now was not the time for residents to get "fatigue" around the issue.

He said everyone who was impacted and had stories to tell needed to make the effort to make submissions on all 12 applications.

"The accumulative effect is what we are really concerned about and the fact that all of this puts pressure on our police and hospitals. They are already maxed out."

Rotorua Motel Association chairman Nick Fitzgerald. Photo / Andrew Warner

Rotorua Motel Association chairman Nick Fitzgerald said emergency housing wasn't going away anytime soon.

"We simply are not building homes fast enough, which is the core issue. With these properties now requiring a resource consent, you would hope they would be managed better and controlled by the council which would hopefully lead to better outcomes for the wider community and lessen the disappointments that have been really public for the last two years."

Ministry of Housing and Urban Development housing and services delivery general manager Jonathon Fraser said the applications were for up to five years.

"The resource consent process is costly and therefore we consider it is a better use of public money to make the applications for five years rather than making them for a shorter period and having to reapply."

Fraser said in the meantime the ministry was working hard on increasing the housing supply in Rotorua.

"We appreciate the situation in Rotorua caused by the housing crisis is of concern to the public and have always acknowledged that motels are not a long-term solution.

"But it is better to have people in motels and receiving wraparound support than sleeping in their cars or on the street."