Jacinda Ardern has addressed the concerns and allegations raised around the safety of emergency housing in Rotorua. Video / Mark Mitchell
A TV broadcast showing "appalling scenes of intimidation, violence, misery and crime" in Rotorua's emergency housing illustrates the government's "utter failure on housing" after five years in office, National says.
The party's housing spokesperson Chris Bishop has spoken out following the TVNZ Sunday broadcast, saying Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is in complete denial about government's failure over housing and its consequences.
On the emergency housing crisis in Rotorua, Ardern told TVNZ Breakfast this morning she still had confidence in housing minister Megan Woods to handle it.
She said motels being used as emergency housing was not ideal but was a better alternative to cars and garages.
"One of the things we made a clear decision on as a government, do we want motels to be a long-term residence for any New Zealander? Absolutely not. But I would much rather people have temp housing that is not a garage, that is not a car," she said.
Bishop said Ardern's response to the Sunday broadcast was "beyond belief".
Fenton St in Rotorua. Photo / Andrew Warner
"Ms Ardern told Breakfast on Monday that motels were not meant to be a long-term solution, but that her government made a clear decision because it did not want children living in cars."
He said last month National revealed the number of children living in cars has risen by almost 350 per cent between the end of 2017 and June 2022.
Bishop said emergency housing was a "social and economic disaster" Ardern had "put in the too hard basket".
"Since 2017 the government has spent a staggering $1 billion housing people in motels," he said.
"Emergency housing is great for motel owners who have made millions but appalling for vulnerable people who need help and support as the example of Rotorua demonstrates."
He said Ardern came to power promising to fix New Zealand's housing crisis.
"Five years on, rents are up $140 per week, the waitlist for a state house has increased by over 20,000 people, 8000 families live in motels, while the number of people living in cars has quadrupled."
Government should be urgently working with housing providers across the country to get people into transitional housing with wraparound support and partnering with the community housing sector to get new social houses built, he said.
Waiariki MP Rawiri Waititi, co-leader of Te Pati Māori, urgently requested that Minister Woods launch an immediate investigation into Government agencies and contractors dealing with Rotorua's emergency housing - describing the situation as "an absolute train wreck".
He said the Sunday programme had revealed "huge allegations" that put the most vulnerable at risk of abuse, all while being paid for it by the state.
Rawiri said the inquiry must be launched for the well-being of "our most vulnerable".
"These allegations are criminal and cannot go without independent investigation."
"The inquiry must review every single dollar that has been thrown by the Government to keep our whānau locked up in hotels."
He said any additional spending as well as additional emergency housing referrals "must immediately be stopped until the inquiry is wrapped up".
And the government must declare a "state of housing emergency to ensure that we legislate to solve this issue at the utmost priority," he said.
During a visit to Rotorua in August, Housing Minister Megan Woods told the Rotorua Daily Post since 2013 the city had experienced a surge of 9000 people seeking homes while only issuing 1500 building consents.
She said there were now 300 public homes under construction in Rotorua, or being planned, and out of the government's 10,000 additional public homes, 209 had been delivered.
Some of the developments include 37 homes on the corner of Ranolf St and Malfroy Rd - six of which were ready for new families. There are a further 24 planned for stage two of that development.
Three new homes were finished on May Rd in July on an existing Kāinga Ora site and eight more homes soon open - five on Tania Cres, two at Toru St and one at Malfroy Rd.
There will be 42 new homes at Quartz Ave (formerly Collie Drive) and 24 apartments built on Pukuatua St at the site that was formerly the English Language School.
Between 50 and 60 houses will be built on vacant farmland on Ōwhata Rd. The type of housing hasn't yet been determined.
2006 Census data shows Rotorua had 81 people sleeping rough, 84 people living in non-private accommodation and 444 people living in overcrowded dwellings.
2013 Love Soup starts feeding homeless at Kuirau Park.
2013 138 Rotorua individuals or families signalled they were homeless (Source: Rotorua Homeless Action Plan 2015-16).
2014 Rotorua District Council held forums to discuss growing homeless issue.
May 2018 More than 100 people marched in the Hikoi for the Homeless to Rotorua Lakes Council to ask for a night shelter.
June 2018 Tiny Deane from Visions of a Helping Hand Trust sets up night shelter on Eruera St. It closes soon after because of compliance issues.
August 2018 Visions opens night shelter in Pukuatua St. Local retailers, publican and shoppers complain in local media about threatening, violent and intimidating behaviour.
February 2020 Kuirau Park becomes the day-time hang out spot for night shelter homeless, rough sleepers and those in nearby emergency housing.
March 2020 Covid-19 lockdown. All rough sleepers and those in the night shelter are moved to motels to isolate safely.
January 2021 More than 1000-signature petition presented to mayor Steve Chadwick by Meredith Herbert asking to address the growing concerns of homelessness.
January-Feb 2021 Tiny Deane reveals plans to turn Base Backpackers and Lava Bar into a homeless and medical centre. Backlash from nearby schools and residents. Online petition objecting attracts 3600 signatures.
March 2021 Lava Bar and Base Backpackers plans dropped.
March 2021 Rotorua MP Todd McClay says Rotorua has become a dumping ground for homeless. Glenholme locals complain of increased crime. Ministry of Social Development says they are not actively bringing out-of-towners to Rotorua.
March 15, 2021 Hundreds attend public meeting in Glenholme to air concerns about impacts of emergency housing.
April 1, 2021 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tells the Rotorua Daily Post in an interview the Government isn't sending out-of-town homeless to Rotorua and we need to not focus on where they have come from but instead stop the demand and make sure they have housing. Rotorua-based list MP Tāmati Coffey describes the perception there are lots of out-of-towners in Rotorua's emergency housing as "anecdata" and it was a "convenient narrative".
April 30, 2021 Rotorua Daily Post reveals local lawyer Kevin Badcock's legal paper says putting people in emergency housing for longer than 28 days in some Rotorua motels is breaching the city's district plan.
June 2021 Government announces $30 million emergency housing shake up to contract motels with wraparound support and security, grouping cohorts together. Housing hub to be established.
June 2021 Government buys vacant 2ha block on the corner of Malfroy Rd and Ranolf St to build 37 new homes.
July 2021 Government buys Boulevard Motel for $8.1m.
August 12, 2021 Rotorua Daily Post reveals Government plans to turn Wylie Court into transitional housing.
August 18, 2021 Wylie Court plans abandoned as Kāinga Ora couldn't reach an agreement with the property owners.
September 2021 Rotorua Daily Post reveals Rotorua Lakes Council approved resource consent for Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to turn Boulevard Motel into transitional housing.
September 2021 Resident Jenny Peace gathers 1900 signatures calling for council transparency over homeless motels resource consent applications.
October 2021 Restore Rotorua Inc is launched, a lobby group fighting for changes over homeless crisis.
November 28, 2021 Rotorua Daily Post reveals 15 Rotorua motels were each paid more than $1m for emergency housing over two years.
March 2022 Letters revealed under the Official Information Act from Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick to Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni show the local council's frustration over some emergency housing in motels. The letters said the community was suffering due to drug use, violent behaviour, vandalism and other anti-social behaviours near the motels.
March 30, 2022 Rotorua Daily Post reveals Government has spent more than $4.6m buying two more pieces of land to provide up to 80 houses for the homeless. They are at the former English Language Academy site on Pukuatua St and vacant land on Ōwhata Rd.
April 5, 2022 Housing Minister Megan Woods says she is reviewing its public housing criteria for Rotorua after an outcry from locals who learned out-of-town homeless could be housed in new Kāinga Ora homes.
April 16, 2022 Rotorua Daily Post reveals a secret council proposal to turn 10 Rotorua reserves into housing.
May 5, 2022 A Ministry of Social Development report presented to the Rotorua Lakes Council reveals nearly a third of people in Rotorua's emergency housing motels have come from out of town.
June 2022 Submissions sought 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.
July 15, 2022 Rotorua Daily Post reveals social service provider Lifewise takes over the Four Canoes Hotel contract but moves its staff off-site because of health and safety issues.
August 5, 2022 Rotorua Daily Post reports 3656 submissions - 80 per cent opposed - were received from people over the 12 resource consent applications to allow motels to be contracted to the Government for up to five years.
August 11, 2022 Government adds Emerald Spa to the list of motels it wants to contract for emergency housing for the next five years - taking the total to 13.
August 13, 2022 Rotorua Daily Post reports up to 70 people will move into new transitional housing accommodation in the coming weeks on Fenton St at the site that was formerly the Boulevard Motel. The new "village" is renamed 2six5 on Fenton.
August 25, 2022 Outgoing Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick uses casting vote to approve a proposal to reclassify seven reserve sites so they can be sold and developed.
August 25, 2022 Housing Minister Megan Woods in Rotorua to see six new homes on the corner of Malfroy Rd and Ranolf St that will go to families in Rotorua's emergency housing motels. Confirms she isn't committing to a policy change discussed in April over who can get the houses.
August 31, 2022 Rotorua Daily Post reveals Rotorua Lakes Council issued Four Canoes Hotel with a Dangerous Building Notice and a Notice To Fix on August 8.
