Letters: Night shelter issues need to be sorted quickly

Re consent needed for night shelter for homeless (Rotorua Daily Post, July 6)

Where are the mayor and councillors in this issue? Four weeks, then a problem, just when news was that the shelter was settling down nicely. Appalling PR. It makes Rotorua and the council look both heartless and incompetent. Sort it. Quickly. It sounds as though Mother Teresa wouldn't have been welcome here, either.

Elizabeth Miller
Okere Falls

The impasse between Lakes Council and organisers of Rotorua's night shelter is the stuff of farce.

Do Henry Weston (council operations manager) and his staff visit at midnight with torches and evict any homeless person who has had the temerity to fall asleep?

A fact that appears to have been overlooked is that Mr Tiny Deane has security personnel on the site, who are on duty all night, thereby minimising fire risks, until such time as consent procedures are in place.

In my view, iwi trusts should step up urgently to give support to Mr Deane and his organisation, Visions of a Helping Hand, since many homeless Rotorua people have Ngati
Whakaue whakapapa.

If Taupo District Council took only four days to finalise consent for its night shelter, there is no reason why Lakes Council cannot do likewise.

Congratulations to Mr Deane and Visions of a Helping Hand. They deserve thanks and support- not constant bureaucratic obstruction.

Jackie Evans
Pukehangi

A partial solution to New Zealand's housing crisis is quite simple. We need to build more hostels.

What I mean by that is hostels with private rooms designed for medium to long-term accommodation.

Kitchen, laundry, bathroom and living room facilities can all be shared. In general, there should be a full-time manager which probably means that most hostels need to be large hostels.

There can be different types of hostels for different segments of the community. It's probably a good idea to separate people just released from prison from people that have been working in a secure job for 20 years. Likewise, it's probably a good idea to separate people who want secure quiet accommodation from people who want to party every night.

I've stayed in hostels most of my adult life. However, currently, there are no such hostels in Rotorua that I'm aware of.

There used to be the Lake House on Lake Rd but it's being demolished. I note that there are backpacker hostels in Rotorua but these aren't suitable for medium to long-term accommodation.

There's this idea in society that everyone needs their own house or apartment. They need their own kitchen, their own laundry, their own bathroom, their own living room, their own car and their own everything. I don't think they do. If people have a family then maybe they need their own house. If they're rich then they might as well have their own house. But most single people can share. Many couples can too.

Hostels are potentially a lot cheaper than houses or apartments so should be considered.

Abby Spurdle
Rotorua