Rotorua residents hear about expansion of motels as emergency shelter

Rotorua residents were heard by the commissioner for three days.
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Rotorua residents spoke out loudly against the use of motels as emergency housing at a hearing to decide whether the government should extend contracts on seven motels for another year.

Independent Commissioner David Hill spent three days listening to applicants and their concerns.

For some submitters, like Dianna Raukawa Doughty, it was an emotional experience.

“We were threatened, verbally abused, and witnessed child abuse,” he said at the hearing.

Doughty said the whole experience was so exhausting that she gave up on speaking out.

“I wasn’t even going to talk today because I thought, what’s the point?”

Only one of the 176 applications received was for support purposes. plugin.

This message came from Peniel Elliot, whose house neighbors many properties offering emergency housing.

“You know, as flawed as it is, (contract emergency housing) still provides a critical service of temporary shelter to those who need it most,” Elliot said.

He said forcing people to go outside would make social problems worse.

“They will be forced to live in unsafe conditions, and I believe this will (worsen) the impact on our city and wider society, and also make it more difficult to achieve long-term solutions when they are rendered invisible in our society.”

Manuariki Tini spoke on behalf of Tūhourangi Ngāti Wāhiao.

He said his people have been welcoming visitors from around the world for many years.

“We welcome them, we greet them, we smile, but at the same time we are afraid that their car windows will be broken or their entire vehicle will be lost during the tour,” he said.

176 applications were made on the subject.
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Tini said the iwi’s manaaki was being used against him by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

“They know we don’t want (contract emergency housing) facilities on our doorstep – but here we are anyway.”

David McPherson echoed this skepticism regarding the actions of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“The Ministry has put forward an exit strategy within the scope of the applications (which is largely nonsense) and has not shown any move towards implementation even at this late stage,” he said.

Nick Whittington, speaking on behalf of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said the department was aware of the impact of emergency housing contracts.

“In fact, he acknowledges and welcomes the impacts and stress that comes with participating in a process such as this.”

However, he said some of the evidence presented by applicants – such as people sleeping rough in toilets or car parks – actually pointed to the urgent need for housing.

“This is evidence of unmet demand for housing. It’s almost obvious that people camping or rough sleeping are not in contracted emergency housing,” he said.

Hill’s current task was to find out what could be done for Rotorua residents who were vehemently opposed to emergency housing, without ignoring the needs of some of the city’s most vulnerable citizens.

He said he expected to make a decision before Christmas.