Barry Grouby has been caught up in the building crisis. Photo / Andrew Warner
Barry Grouby has been caught up in the building crisis. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Rotorua Daily Post is looking back at the stories of 2022. Here’s what made headlines in May:
May 4:
Rotorua’s newest zipline adventure course which soars over waterfalls, rivers and native forests officially opened.
Located near Ōkere Falls, the new tourist attraction, which cost ‘’seven figures’' employs five staff, with the potential to employ a further 15. The company behind the project, Rotorua Ziplines, also plans to plant 60,000 trees in their area over the next five years.
Business leaders welcomed the new attraction which is expected to appeal to residents, as well as national and international visitors.
Nearly a third of people in Rotorua’s emergency housing motels have come from out of town, a new report reveals.
The report has been met with shock and sparked comments that Rotorua “absorbing” other areas’ homeless is “wreaking havoc” in the city.
The Ministry of Social Development has repeated assurances that the “vast majority” of people in Rotorua emergency housing are from the city, a nearby town, or have links to Rotorua.
The Ministry’s new research on Rotorua emergency housing clients was presented to the Rotorua Lakes Council’s Operations and Monitoring Committee meeting yesterday. The report showed 1121 people went through emergency housing in Rotorua in 2021.
Of those, 778 were living in Rotorua a month before needing emergency housing help.
A further 201 people, or 19 per cent, came from neighbouring areas before moving to Rotorua - including Taupō, Tauranga, Western Bay, South Waikato, Kawerau and Ōpōtiki.
A Rotorua couple blew their dream-home budget by $500,000 on a house that still isn’t finished after two-and-a-half years.
They are caught up in the building crisis in which house and land packages have jumped 20 per cent in one year. One company says a Tauranga home that cost $750,000 to build a year ago now costs $900,000.
Barry Grouby said he bought land at Lake Tarawera in 2011 and drew up plans in 2012 for their three-bedroom, two-storey home. It then took years of “mind-boggling” red tape and engineering issues before the floor went down about two and a half years ago.
“Then Covid hit and everything went on a slowdown. I got this house designed for myself, my wife and my three boys and now two of my boys have bought their own homes. I am 53 and I thought I would celebrate my 50th in the house.”
Seventeen complaints of misconduct or foul play at games held at various age-group levels across the region over two weekends were reported to the union.
Bay of Plenty Rugby Union community rugby manager Pat Rae said it was disappointing.
Rotorua-born author Joshua Pomare’s book is being adapted into a Disney series.
The 33-year-old, also known as J.P. Pomare, told the Rotorua Daily Post he was “absolutely over the moon” that his second novel, In The Clearing, would be adapted to an eight-part Disney series called The Clearing.
Pomare, who lives in Melbourne with his wife Paige and his two-year-old daughter Blake, said filming would start at the end of June in rural Victoria.
The series will star Australian actress Miranda Otto, of Lord of the Rings fame, Guy Pearce, who starred in Memento, and Teresa Palmer from A Discovery of Witches.
J.P. Pomare pictured at the launch of his book In the Clearing at McLeods Booksellers in Rotorua in 2020. Photo / Andrew Warner
May 21:
A mysterious “lifeline” arrived on the doorstep of cystic fibrosis sufferer OJ Daniels’ home.
An estimated $27,500 worth of “miracle drug” Trikafta was delivered to his Rotorua home by a courier - sender unknown. The 19-year-old said he had received a one-month supply of Trikafta - a drug that treats the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis.
OJ Daniels pictured in May when he received an anonymous delivery of a month's supply of Trikafta. Photo / Andrew Warner
May 24:
Households in some emergency housing motels in Rotorua could be looking for somewhere else to live after the council filed legal action against nine motels.
The action is being seen as necessary because of what is being described as the “misery” unmanaged emergency housing is causing the city’s residents and reputation.
Rotorua Lakes Council has confirmed it has lodged court action in the Environment Court against nine motels for failing to comply with regulatory requirements that allow them to operate as emergency housing.
The council will not disclose the names of the motels. There are 350 households receiving emergency housing support in all non-contracted motels.
