Homeless couple set up camp at Rotorua's Sulphur Point

Homeless man Graham Bockman has lived in a tent at Sulphur Point since before Christmas. Photo / Stephen Parker

Where should the homeless go? Journalist Kelly Makiha meets a Rotorua man who has been living in a tent for more than two months at Rotorua's Sulphur Point.

With lake views and on the edge of a golf course, Graham Bockman's "address" reads like something out of a swanky real estate brochure.

The truth is he is homeless and lives in a tent at Sulphur Point in Rotorua with his partner and their dog.

They're not supposed to be there but no one's asked them to leave.

Bockman popped out of his tent on a drizzly morning this week to chat to the Rotorua Daily Post.

He said he noticed more "neighbours" setting up in tents and vehicles at Sulphur Point and he worried they would be moved on soon.

But to where?

He and Tiny Deane, who runs the Night Shelter in Rotorua's CBD for the city's homeless, are calling for a park or reserve to be made available where homeless people can camp at night or hang out during the day.

In response to Rotorua Daily Post questions, the Rotorua Lakes Council has said that won't happen.

Just over a week ago, Deane asked the people who slept at his shelter to stop hanging around the streets in the central city and instead go to Kuirau Park.

Deane said he did that out of desperation following pleas from local businesses who were fed up and scared of people hanging around town.

Homeless camp in Kuirau Park. Photo / File

However, Deane said having groups of people, many whom dragged their belongings with them in shopping trolleys and old suitcases, also created a bad look at Kuirau Park - a popular tourist attraction.

Deane said given the public backlash during the past week, he had now encouraged his people to go back to the central city at the weekends when the businesses were closed.

He said he couldn't afford to allow his homeless shelter to be used during the day, plus they would create too much havoc given their drug habits.

Deane said he would like to put tiny homes on land for the homeless but he had nowhere to put them.

He said he would love to see an area opened up by the council or donated by a local landowner or empty shop owner where they could discreetly go during the day without annoying anyone.

Meanwhile, Bockman said many of those homeless who lazed around the city streets did synthetic drugs and were rude, giving people like him a bad name.

Homeless people pass the time away in Kuirau Park. Photo / Stephen Parker

Bockman, 45, and his 47-year-old partner, who didn't want her name published, pitched their tent just before Christmas at Sulphur Point. They had been living with his father in Murupara but had to move out when his father's girlfriend moved back in.

On ACC after putting an axe through his hand chopping firewood last year, Bockman has been off work from his job at Rotorua Forest Haulage as a loader/operator since last year and has been getting physio. He hopes to be working again by May.

The pair have applied for countless rental properties but given they are both smokers and have a dog, they are never chosen.

Graham Bockman lives in a tent at Sulphur Point in Rotorua. Photo / Stephen Parker

So, for now, they sleep on their air mattress inside the tent, cook on their gas cooker, drink water from big storage bins kept at the back of their tent and wash and go to the bathroom in the nearby public toilets.

Despite Bockman's situation, you'll never meet a more positive chap.

"What's not to love living in a tent?"

He said homeless people shouldn't moan and blame society for their lives.

"I can understand they are homeless but at least we are out of the way. We don't do drugs and laze about. You could call us the elite ones of the homeless."

He said it annoyed him when the central city homeless begged him for money or cigarettes.

"I tell them 'I'm homeless too' ... They need to prioritise their money more."

He knows he's made some bad choices that's led to his position, but he was trying to make the best of the bad situation.

He said there was a friendly community forming among those who lived longer term at Sulphur Point.

Graham Bockman lives at Sulphur Point. Photo / Stephen Parker

"When you live on your own you are a bit of a hermit but here I've met lots of different people. We all have yarns. Some have lived here for 12 months."

He said thankfully he hadn't seen any children living there.

"But you can't go around blaming society for where you are at. Sometimes you only have yourself to blame. The idea is to stay positive."

What the authorities say

Rotorua Lakes Council sport, recreation and environment manager Rob Pitkethley said Motutara (known as Sulphur Point) was part of a reserve under the Reserves Act and camping was not allowed there.

Offences under the Reserves Act require a prosecution and court process and there are several offences and penalties that came under the act.

Pitkethley said in response to Rotorua Daily Post questions the council moved freedom campers on from reserves if they were having an impact on other users of an area or on the environment, for instance, areas where there were no public facilities or areas of high public use.

He said anecdotally the council had noticed an increase in freedom campers.

When asked if the council would consider setting aside a park or reserve for homeless people, council strategy group manager Jean-Paul Gaston said people who needed housing were able to go to the Ministry of Social Development and register for services.

"Government agency representatives have told us nobody needs to be without a roof over their heads, that there is help and support available for anyone who engages with their services. People who council staff engage with are given information and encouraged to make use of the services that are available to help them and to provide accommodation options."

Waiariki MP Tāmati Coffey said homelessness had no quick fix but Rotorua was making progress.

"With new state houses being built in our city, alongside Aotearoa's first iwi-led Housing First homeless services, we are working as fast as we can, in partnership with iwi, and council to turn around the housing crisis we inherited. However, even we collectively can't do it alone.

"I will be actively ensuring our housing ministers keep Rotorua front of mind and re-urge anyone who knows of possible temporary accommodation within our community, that might house our people, whānau, our kids in need, to contact MSD or their local iwi housing provider and put their ideas forward.

"Government is well aware of the reputation Rotorua has as a homeless hotspot which has brought the ministry to the table to work proactively on solutions."