Rotorua's homeless: Fears for children in motels growing up next to 501s, gang members

Rotorua Lakes councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait. Photo / Andrew Warner

A Rotorua district councillor has expressed concern about children growing up in motels next to gang members and Australia's 501 deportees.

Rotorua Lakes councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait made the comments at a council Strategy, Policy and Finance Committee meeting on Thursday as part of discussions about a draft council plan to address community safety.

So-called 501 deportees are criminal New Zealand citizens deported from Australia.

They are named for the section of the Australian Immigration Act that allowed visas to be stripped from New Zealand residents who had disqualified themselves on "character" grounds.

This week Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton described the scheme as "taking the trash out".

At the meeting on Thursday, Raukawa-Tait said homeless people and rough sleepers had been put into motels during the Covid-19 alert level 4 lockdown to "get them off the streets".

"Our motels are being used to mop up the housing crisis in Rotorua.

"That has contributed to the behaviours that we see on the streets.

"We've got people in motels who are just surviving. Who's looking after their high and complex needs? How did that happen?

"We've got mothers with children living beside someone who's just been released from overseas, come back to New Zealand, a 501. You've got other people with gang relations waltzing in and out of those motels.

"There are people in Rotorua who need to take a really good look at what they've contributed to the issues that are going down right now in our city."

Raukawa-Tait, who is also a member of Lakes DHB and the chairwoman of Whānau Ora, said some government agencies had "taken the road of least resistance".

"Then we wonder why we've got people with the behaviours that they have on our streets today."

She said the draft plan did something constructive and was "a start".

Council operations manager Jocelyn Mikaere, who presented the draft plan, said community safety was a priority in the council's long-term plan as it had "such far-reaching consequences".

"We know our residents and visitors anecdotally are telling us they do not feel safe in Rotorua."

She said the draft community safety plan had been developed out of public consultation about the council's housing strategy as well as concerns raised in other channels.

She referenced a Dot Loves Data report that revealed Rotorua ranked 66 of 66 - the worst in the country - in crime victimisation.

"We're not just trying to be better than number 66, we want to be the safest place to live and raise a family."

She said part of the focus of the plan was on children and young people and developing "effective collaboration" with the police and community groups to ensure the plan was a success.

It included crime prevention through environmental design, she said.

"That's things like making sure that if we're planting trees we're not planting them directly right in front of CCTV cameras."

It also included expanding CCTV coverage and "expanding and enhancing" the council's Safe City Guardians.

Rotorua Lakes Council operations manager Jocelyn Mikaere. Photo / Andrew Warner.

A detailed implementation plan for the draft community safety plan was being costed and developed, she said.

Te Tatau o Te Arawa representative Eugene Berryman-Kamp said the draft plan appeared to be "more about managing the issue, managing symptoms, less about determining the cause".

Mikaere said the issues at play had not sprung up overnight, nor were they easy to fix.

"It's not something we can just walk out and shoot a silver bullet and everything will be fabulous."

She said the council wanted to make sure the approach was "based in partnership" with government departments and the wider community.

"It's really important that everyone takes responsibility for a better outcome."

Council chief executive Geoff Williams said the draft plan was not complete but council strategy such as the housing plan, the Eastside Community Wellness Plan addressed underlying issues.

He said the draft plan was "very much the first element off the ground" and was intended for "fast immediate effect on our streets".

Te Tatau o Te Arawa rangatahi representative Danielle Marks asked how safety was to be guaranteed with police involvement, given reports of what they described as "racial profiling".

Rotorua police area commander inspector Phil Taikato said there were "other threads of work going on" to do with family harm and violence.

"It's the foundation of virtually all of our criminal offending we're dealing with."

He said Rotorua was leading the country with new initiatives to combat family violence.

"Here in Rotorua in the police, arrest is the exception, supportive resolutions is the norm."

Rotorua police were running iwi panels and planning on rolling out more, Taikato said.

Rotorua police area commander inspector Phil Taikato. Photo / Andrew Warner

Taikato confirmed the police collected data on where 501 deportees ended up living.

"We know who's coming in and where they're going."

Councillor Mercia Yates asked how many children were in emergency housing and Mikaere said at the end of February there were about 370.

"That's not a figure anyone should be comfortable with, and we certainly do not want our children: growing up in motels."

Yates said she feared living in motels could have long-term effects on children.

Deputy mayor Dave Donaldson said motels were "not a healthy environment for over 350 children to be raised".

Councillor Raj Kumar said parts of Rotorua were "Godzone" but some elements, such as gang members, made the situation worse.

The committee also unanimously agreed to include a 30-year infrastructure strategy in consultations for the council's long-term plan, which is expected to begin at the end of the month.