Cars, including this one, were broken into in Rotorua.
An ‘‘angry’' Glenholme resident fears Rotorua is “under siege again” from what she believes are more issues stemming from some people in homeless motels - including crime, begging and people sleeping in doorways.
Carolyne Hall is one of eight people in the Holland St area to have their cars broken into overnight on Monday, August 7.
It has spurred her to speak up about what she believes is an increase in anti-social behaviour around the central city and Fenton St areas where emergency housing motels are.
In her opinion, a lot of the issues stemmed from an increase in recent weeks of unruly people living in those motels.
Hall has written a strongly-worded letter to Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell calling for action, saying: “I know this city is under siege once again”.
“I make no apologies for feeling quite angry and aggrieved by my personal space and property being invaded once again,’' she said in the letter.
Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell said great progress had been made in reducing emergency housing numbers but it was concerning recent crime incidents had overshadowed the progress.
Hall - a member of the resident lobby group Restore Rotorua, which has fought the Government and local council over the emergency housing motel situation - said she was worried the “tide was turning” and wanted to put a stop to it now.
She said she had seen more large groups of youths walking around the Lytton St area and believed graffiti had increased.
The letter said she recently witnessed traffic coming to a standstill at the Amohau and Amohia Sts intersection because a woman stood in the line of traffic and refused to move.
She described seeing more dumped shopping trolleys, people begging, people sleeping in doorways and “vagrancy” around the carpark building on Pukuatua St. She said many appeared to have mental health or drug addiction issues.
Disorder, dishonesty, vandalism and violent offending were highlighted extensively during public submissions last year by residents, business owners and school groups when the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development applied for resource consents to allow 13 contracted emergency housing motels to continue operating for five years.
Three independent commissioners granted the requests but for a maximum of three years and put in place strict conditions that aimed to improve the situation for locals.
The council, the Government and iwi signed the Rotorua Housing Accord in November, which promised to “progressively reduce the use of motels for emergency housing in Rotorua to near zero”. The accord did not stipulate by when.
Hall gave a submission to the commissioners last year, at times in tears, as she detailed the anguish her family faced with their home in close proximity to two emergency housing motels.
She spoke out to the Rotorua Daily Post in February about the positive turnaround that had been seen, saying the “vibe” felt different and for the first time in several years, she said she and her husband were biking down Fenton St again.
But now she questioned if the accord was working - saying the numbers appeared to have stagnated.
She said in the letter that, in her view, the accord was a “smokescreen”, saying it allowed government policies of housing the homeless in Rotorua motels to continue.
She told the Rotorua Daily Post: “I think they thought after the submissions, ‘yeah the community will calm down and will get used to this’ and it was going that way. I spoke out and said yes you can definitely see the changes. Well, I’m speaking out again because ... the tide is turning again.”
Wylie Court Motor Lodge general manager Judith Cunningham said she was still receiving regular phone calls from people asking for emergency housing quotes. However, the motor lodge operated for visitors to Rotorua and not for emergency housing.
Mayor Tania Tapsell said Rotorua had significantly improved from where it was a year ago. Non-contracted emergency housing motel numbers had dropped and business confidence had improved.
“It’s deeply disappointing that recent incidents of crime have overshadowed this progress.”
She said this included the Central Mall ram raid.
“We are naturally feeling concerned because we don’t want to go backwards.”
Although she had been told police demand was down, police had reported to the council crime around backpackers and hostels had increased.
Tapsell said temporary housing figures showed there were now 72 fewer adults living in emergency housing motels than there were three months ago and in Ministry of Social Development figures supplied to her, it appeared no one had come from outside Rotorua to emergency housing motels during that time.
“I appreciate that Glenholme residents are angry at recent incidents of crime. These incidents are unacceptable. Everyone should be able to feel safe in their homes and neighbourhoods.”
Ministry of Social Development acting regional commissioner Graham Allpress said the ministry’s focus was still on supporting families in housing distress and ensuring they got the support they needed.
“Since we began tracking the use of motels in Rotorua in September 2022, we have seen a significant overall decrease in the number of households in emergency housing in Rotorua, from 231 households across 34 motels at the end of September 2022, to 105 households in 11 motels in June 2023.”
He said there had been a lot of hard work behind the scenes to support families to move out of emergency housing.
“We are pleased with the progress that has been made.
“Demand for emergency housing is a symptom of the wider issue of a lack of affordable housing across Aotearoa. There is a major programme of work underway across Government, aimed at increasing the supply of public housing and improving housing affordability and supply.”
The latest monthly figures showing how many people lived in temporary housing motels in Rotorua have not yet been released but according to the figures to June, there has been a significant drop since the start of last year - particularly with those living in non-contracted motels that do not have strict rules.
The figures show the number of households getting emergency housing grants to stay in non-contracted motels last year, dropping from 294 households in January 2022 to 138 households in December. The numbers rose slightly in March to 147 households but were down again in June to 105 households.
The number of households in contracted emergency housing also dropped from 201 households in January last year to 174 in December last year. As of June this year, there were 189 households in emergency housing.
Housing Minister Megan Woods, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni and Associate Social Devleopment Minister Priyanca Radhakrishnan, who now looks after the emergency housing portfolio, have been approached for comment.
A police spokesman said eight reports of people tampering with vehicles were reported overnight in the Holland St and surrounding area on August 7. The thieves tried to steal one of the vehicles and items were taken from at least one of the vehicles. No one had yet been arrested.
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