Rotorua MP Todd McClay is demanding the council put a sinking lid on the number of people living in emergency accommodation in the city's motel.
The call comes after it was revealed emergency housing stays in motels longer than 28 days breached the Rotorua Lakes Council's district plan.
McClay saidthe council should not be seen to be allowing the breaches to continue and should be urgently contacting all moteliers to say "no more emergency housing guests".
Rotorua Motel Association chairman Mike Gallagher. Photo / Andrew Warner
However, Rotorua district councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait said the "boat has well and truly sailed", and Rotorua Motel Association chairman Mike Gallagher said the issue proved the accommodation sector needed to be better regulated.
The Rotorua Daily Post last week revealed local lawyer Kevin Badcock's legal paper on emergency housing showed the council was not complying with its obligations under the Resource Management Act by not enforcing non-compliance with the district plan.
The paper said there were legal issues when land and buildings in a commercial zone, which is the tourism accommodation zone along Fenton St and Lake Rd, had people staying on a non-temporary basis.
Under the district plan, the zone allows temporary tourist accommodation by paying guests for no more than 28 days.
Rotorua Lakes Council admitted it had been aware of the problem since the end of last year - pointing out it was not just an issue for Rotorua - but said it would not change the district plan. The council said it was working with government agencies and ministers on a solution.
McClay said now everyone was aware, it was time the Government stopped "using Rotorua as a dumping ground for the country's homelessness problem".
"This will allow the Ministry of Social Development to start focusing on those who were already in the motels and transitioning them into more permanent accommodation that is within the law."
McClay said this latest issue with the district plan meant Rotorua should at the very least be saying "no more".
"This should be a cap and sinking lid policy and means the people being left to languish in the motels have a chance of being helped by the Government and not being left there for years and years."
McClay said the solution was to build more houses and to allow other regions to look after their own.
"Unless the Government and the council take action now, every motel will be full with homeless people and that's not good for anyone."
The council declined to comment further on the issue.
Rotorua district councillor Merepeka Raukawa Tait. Photo / File
Raukawa-Tait said she would prefer McClay stopped talking about Rotorua being used as a "dumping ground" for the homeless.
Raukawa-Tait said in her opinion: "He sees the homeless as second class, but many are now homeless because of shonky government policy over many years including 'crisis what crisis?'. It is not the homeless that invented the social welfare system. They need support rather than being reminded by some they are a hopeless case."
She said she was also concerned many motels were being used as temporary accommodation in Rotorua.
"I would have preferred a more managed process than that put in place by MSD. The homeless are with us now so let's start focusing on solutions and working constructively together to work through not only their accommodation problem but the myriad of other complex needs they have."
She said it was "a bit rich" attempting to tell moteliers now what they could and couldn't do under the district plan.
"That boat has well and truly sailed, all over the country. I would prefer that point-scoring be put to one side and we start to raise people up instead of putting them down."
In response, McClay said he did not see the homeless as second class citizens.
"It's not the fault of the families who find themselves in this situation. ''
McClay said in his opinion: ''To say I think they are second class is a disservice to all the people who come to me for help telling me they feel unsafe in the motels and want to get out.''
Gallagher said all accommodation providers, including motels and Airbnbs, should be regulated and given standards similar to how the tourism industry was regulated by Qualmark.
He said the regulations could outline specific expectations and be used by the social housing sector to get a proper pricing structure that was fair to taxpayers.
"It could include ensuring they don't have a mix of domestic and international guests as well as MSD people and it could insist on wraparound services and help for the moteliers themselves, things like ensuring they have a phone number to ring and get help if they felt unsafe."
He said it could be regulated that a portion of Government funding needed to be spent on the maintenance of the properties for the betterment of the surroundings.
He pointed out those who were taking on social housing were saving a lot of money in frequent transactions, daily motel cleaning and commercial booking costs.
"It's not only about what you make, it's about what you're saving."
Gallagher said if there were better eyes over the entire industry, some might opt out and instead put their properties in the rental pool, which would help alleviate the housing crisis.
Gallagher said Rotorua currently "scraped by" in terms of having enough guest beds when there was a big weekend of events.
"When we get up to high summer numbers again there will be a problem. Our challenge is not the quantity of properties, it's the quality."
