Rotorua tourist operators want emergency motel accommodation shut down

A group of tourist operators in Rotorua want to see emergency motel accommodation shut down by the end of the year.

The current resource consent for the seven emergency housing motels operating in Rotorua expires in December - but the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development has applied to extend it for another year.

The council has received 176 submissions on the resource consent extension, with only one submitter in favour.

Hotel Council's James Doolan told Checkpoint, that while the number of motels being used for social housing has reduced in the past couple of years, they want to see the rest gone too.

He made a submission to the council on behalf on 11 hotels in the city.

"So there's been a process to bring that number down which we applaud and support and in our submission, we asked for the ministry to put forward plans to eventually bring a close to using motels as social housing and I think that's a reasonable ask."

Doolan said the emergency motels are associated with anti-social behaviour and harm local tourism.

Such incidents include drug use, toileting in the street, crime and increased domestic violence.

When asked how it was known social housing residents were responsible for the bad behaviour, Doolan said there was no dispute in Rotorua that it was these residents.

There was a "sudden and noticeable uptake" in these issues at the time the borders closed because of Covid-19 and motels became social housing, he said.

Doolan said the council was working to reduce the number of motels used for social housing, but ideally, it would have happened faster.

"You want to put your best foot forward when trying to rebuild demand after a global pandemic."

Doolan said he would wait to see what the council decided, but had submitted that "more meat be put on the bone" for phasing them out.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.