MP wants funding freeze for Rotorua homeless motels, investigation of 'absolute train wreck'
Tuesday, 6 September 2022
It’s “an absolute train wreck” in the eyes of Māori Party co-leader and Waiariki MP Rawiri Waititi.
For National Housing spokesperson Chris Bishop MP, it’s “a social and economic disaster”.
The normally opposing political forces both condemn the ongoing use of Rotorua motels as emergency accommodation for people who are homeless.
In a social media post on Tuesday, Waititi said he was calling on Housing Minister Megan Woods to launch an independent investigation into the matter.
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**
“Rotorua’s emergency housing is an absolute train wreck,” he said,
He also took aim at the Government for deciding to “throw an additional $145m to keep the status quo”.
“The investigation must be independent and ensure that every single dollar thrown at contracted organisations by ministries is reviewed.
“We also need to stop new emergency referrals, and stop additional new spending until the inquiry has concluded.”
For Bishop, the latest claims over social housing in Rotorua were an example of “the Government’s utter failure on housing after five years in office”.
He said emergency housing was “a social and economic disaster that the Government has simply put in the too hard basket”.
While the issue has burst onto the wider political scene in the wake of the TVNZ Sunday programme, it’s never been far from the surface in Rotorua, where according to Infometrics 2019 data, the visitor sector contributes 17.2 per cent of its GDP.
There’s been political pushback, as seen in a November 2021 letter from Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick to Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni.
In that letter, obtained by Stuff via an Official Information Act request, Chadwick was blunt in her description of the damage the anti-social behaviour stemming from many of the motels was having.
There was drug use, violent behaviour, vandalism and other anti-social behaviour on a daily basis, she wrote.
“The perception is that those living in emergency accommodation are destroying our city and its reputation.”
The man tasked with bringing visitors to the city, RotoruaNZ chief Andrew Wilson, also spoke to Stuff back in March about how the issue was affecting one of the city’s big economic earners, especially ahead of borders reopening.
Asked directly whether the MSD motel situation, and the continual background hum of crime and anti-social behaviour, was beginning to impact Rotorua’s reputation as a visitor destination, his response was candid.
“Yes. Without a doubt it’s having a reputational impact.”
There’s even a pressure group set up to lobby against the motel issue.
Restore Rotorua was established by Trevor Newbrook for one reason: “how it’ll affect tourism in Rotorua, and the damage it’s doing to our local economy”.
“It’s lasted too long, and it’s growing,” Newbrook said.
“We need to have a sinking lid policy. At the moment, we have the complete opposite.”
One area of the wider motel debate also has some consensus; that the only solution is more houses.
“And that’s moving pretty slowly,” said Wilson.