Tenants need new home soon

Rotorua Citizens Advice Bureau manager Jane Eynon-Richards and many other tenants of Community House are still looking for new premises. Photo / File

Organisations offering free health and social services are in a desperate hunt to find a new home as the clock ticks on the Community House demolition.

Rotorua's Citizens Advice Bureau voiced a plea for help in June and, three months on, it is still on the hunt for new premises, along with the 21 other tenants.

It and other groups have until April 30 to vacate the three-storey building, which is to be demolished and turned into an inner city health centre.

There will be an update on the Rotorua Library and Child Health Hub at a Rotorua Lakes Council meeting tomorrow.

Bureau manager Jane Eynon-Richards said she had visited a number of premises but it was proving to be difficult finding the right location for the right price.

The bureau need ground-floor premises of around 100sq/m in the CBD, in an area of high foot traffic and accessible to all. They need private interview space, an office for the manager, or the ability to convert a building to meet those needs.

Mrs Eynon-Richards said they had discussed banding together with other community groups but even then they had yet to find a location that suited all their needs.

"We've discussed linking up with others from Community House as it would make sense," she said.

"It would be nice to know where we're going by early in the New Year. We've got our dream home in mind but it's now about making it happen."

Citizens Advice Bureau has been in the building since 1993.

Rotorua Budget Advisory Service manager Pakanui Tuhura said they had looked at a number of new premises but "it all comes back to suitability as well as cost".

"We're in the same boat as everyone else," he said.

"The rentals we've been looking at have been quite high compared to what we're paying now. We've looked at a number of places we think are suitable but we're going to have to compromise on price. Some were priced good but we'd have to compromise on suitability."

He said there was a deadline in place but they hoped to have a new home by April.

Rotorua Lakes Council will provide current tenants of the Haupapa St building with rent subsidies for three years.

Community House tenants

ADHD Association, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimers Support Group, Parent to Parent, Arthritis Foundation, Parkinson's Society, Asthma Society Rotorua, Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation, Brain Injury Association, Rotorua Multi Cultural Council, Budget Advisory Service, Rotorua Social Services Council, Rotorua Citizens Advice, Stroke Foundation, Epilepsy Association, Supporting Families in Mental Health, Family Planning Association, Sexual Abuse Centre, Salvation Army, Lifelink/Samaritans, Literacy Rotorua, Mana Social Services.