Independent commissioners (left to right) Sheena Tepania, chairman David Hill and Greg Hill. Photo / Mead Norton
A Rotorua security boss believes resource consent should only have been granted to four or five emergency housing motels instead of all 13.
But Watchdog Security chief executive Brett Wilson also says the decision on the future of the city’s ‘‘cesspool of misery” could have been worse.
Local leaders have reacted to the decision to allow contracted emergency housing to continue at 13 Rotorua motels for the next two years.
Independent commissioners released their decision on Thursday relating to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development’s resource consent applications to allow the motels to continue operating contracted emergency housing in Rotorua.
Commission chairman David Hill and fellow commissioners Sheena Tepania and Greg Hill refused to allow the consents for the requested five years and instead granted them for two years.
Their green light came with a string of conditions, including a requirement to engage with people impacted.
Wilson, who gave a verbal submission during the October hearings, said there were “pluses and minuses” and it appeared the commissioners had “put a bob each way”.
He believed a better result would have been to only grant consent for four or five motels but “it could have been worse”.
He was pleased the commissioners had taken note of the negative effects which meant the city wouldn’t have to put up with “this cesspool of misery” for another five years.
He said conditions about ensuring better maintenance of grounds and fences and banning dogs were badly needed and a positive outcome.
“On the downside, we still have two more years of the aforementioned cesspit of misery and it’s at a time when tourist numbers do appear to be increasing in recent weeks.”
The NZ Seventh-day Adventist Schools Association Ltd and the Rotorua SDA School Board said in a statement the commissioners’ decision had sought to strike a balance.
Representatives from the school gave a powerful submission at the hearing about what the Fenton St school had endured.
It has had to spend thousands on fencing and security measures after suffering items dumped on its grounds, including a used tampon, knives, booze bottles, condoms and human faeces.
They’d been broken into and staff and students had been threatened and had sexually explicit verbal abuse hurled at them. Children were also called a racial slur and were challenged for fights.
Spokeswoman Victoria Finch said the commissioners had sought to balance the challenges faced by properties such as the school and the needs of families needing contracted emergency housing.
“We are hopeful that the combination of tighter controls for contracted emergency housing and positive future outcomes arising from the recent signing of the Rotorua Housing Accord will increase safety within our community over the next two years.”
Rotorua MP Todd McClay said the Government should never have contracted Rotorua motels long-term for emergency housing and they had treated Rotorua residents extremely badly.
“This Government policy is a huge failure. They’ve used our city as a dumping ground for the country’s homelessness problem and we continue to pay a very high price for this. Many local people will be deeply disappointed that these consents have been issued even for two years.”
He called on the Government to cancel the contracts within 12 months and “restore Rotorua to its former glory as an important tourist town”.
In response, Housing Minister Megan Woods said everyone wanted to see an end to the use of emergency motels.
“That’s why the Government is building so many new public and transitional housing places, investing in infrastructure like pipes and roads so more private housing can be built in Rotorua, and working with the council and iwi to resolve the city’s longstanding homelessness problems.”
She said the accord was aimed at reducing reliance on motels for emergency housing and addressing Rotorua’s chronic housing shortage.
“I’m confident that by working together we will be able to achieve the accord’s objectives.”
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development deputy chief executive Ben Dalton said the ministry was working through details of the decision and was committed to working with all the parties who signed the accord.
“Emergency housing is not a situation anyone wants but it remains a necessary option to provide security for whānau and individuals while the pipeline of supply is increased.”
Meanwhile, the decision said the consents were granted for a shorter period because of the impacts on locals.
The motels benefited those who needed a home but it was at the expense of the community, the decision said.
“That is not an acceptable outcome. A shorter term provides breathing space in which to resolve that contradiction.
“At the heart of the matter is a community clearly experiencing degrees of anxiety, dread, material inconvenience, significant loss of residential amenity, and a loss of business confidence,” the decision said.
On the other hand, the ministry was using facilities that had been underutilised for their express purpose for a much-needed social purpose with wrap-around support.
“By granting a realistic short-term ... we are effectively giving the parties the opportunity to find a better solution.”
The commissioners said they accepted “the world in which the residents of Rotorua and Glenholme now found themselves in had been significantly impacted by the policy of supporting emergency housing”.
The commissioners noted submitters were at pains to emphasise their opposition did not derive from a Nimby position.
“The impression left with the panel was the feeling that the manaakitanga that Rotorua is internationally famous for [and for at least a century] has been abused. The strength and genuineness of that feeling throughout the hearing was palpable.”
The panel accepted emergency housing had an adverse effect but it couldn’t with any confidence say it was or was not as the result of the 13 contracted emergency housing motels, as opposed to other non-contracted motels.
The motels have the potential to allow emergency housing for 868 people in 297 motel units.
The applications attracted 3841 submissions from 350 submitters and a significant majority were in opposition.
The motels granted consent are Alpin Motel (Sala St), Emerald Spa (Fenton St) Geneva Motor Lodge (Fenton St), Malones Motel (Fenton St), Midway Motel (Fenton St), New Castle (Ward Ave), Pohutu Lodge (Meade St) Lake Rotorua Hotel (Lake Rd), Ascot on Fenton (Fenton St), Rotovegas Motel (Fenton St), Ann’s Volcanic Motel (Malfroy Rd), Union Victoria (Victoria St) and Apollo Hotel (Tryon St).
The contracted emergency housing motels are managed by social support agencies Visions of a Helping Hand, Wera Aotearoa or Emerge Aotearoa. These agencies also offer wraparound social services.
The conditions included:
* Setting up a Community Liaison Group for the duration of the consent that will include three community members, one tourism representative and one member of Restore Rotorua. They are to meet at least every six months.
* Six-monthly meetings must also be held with the council to give updates on the conditions and assess if the demand was still enough to keep the contract going for the full two years.
* Some consents include meeting within a month with Whakarewarewa Village and Te Puia representatives and offering to have six-monthly meetings after that.
* Consent holder to remove motel signage and online advertising.
* Banning dogs in the motels.
* Site manager present 24/7 and a contact person appointed to always be available to the council.
* Daily maintenance of grounds, programmed maintenance of buildings and control of noise.
* Paying a consent fee to the council to ensure ratepayers aren’t burdened with the cost of monitoring the consents
* Drawing up a site management plan within a month.
* Outlining procedures for placing people in the motel including confirming those put there are primarily families with children, young people, people with disabilities and the elderly.
* Outlining management of people whose behaviour might create an unacceptable risk to other occupants.
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