The City Garden Lodge was destroyed in a fire in early April. Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn
Police were called to an Auckland central boarding house more than once a week on average for three years before it burnt down in early April.
City Garden Lodge - on St Georges Bay Road in Parnell - was the subject of criticism and speculation following the 7 April blaze, which saw 10 of its guests evacuated.
There was a 700 percent increase in requests for police at the address over the span of two years, according to statistics obtained by RNZ through the Official Information Act.
There were 292 requests for police at the lodge between 1 January 2019 and 31 March 2024, and more than 90 percent of those were after the Covid-19 lockdowns.
There were 10 callouts in 2019, which rose eight-fold to 83 in 2021, and in 2022 and 2023 they stayed fairly consistent at 74 and 86 respectively.
The 243 callouts over three years equated to an average of 1.5 a week.
Residents on St Georges Bay Road, where the lodge is located, spoke out about the constant abuse and harassment they experienced from the guests since the Covid lockdowns.
They said the Lodge's owners - Suresh and Seema Chatly, who own several backpackers' hostels - had turned it into a 'street of hell,' which housed dangerous and hostile people who needed 'serious help'.
The owners of the destroyed lodge own two others nearby. Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn
'The street seems more peaceful'
Resident Andre May was not particularly surprised by the numbers.
"It just shows the size and the scale of concentration of people who perhaps are coming from these transitional facilities," May said, "and the impact they're having on what has previously been a very quiet and happy residential place where people felt safe".
He said the huge increase in police presence was unfair to the people of the community.
"The fact that no one in government, MSD, or Housing New Zealand are interested... just seems to me to be a lack of social responsibility on behalf of our politicians."
Lantana Lodge was also on St Georges Bay Road and owned by the Chatlys, while the evacuees of the fire had been moved to Parnell Pines nearby.
"If you can get all three, it will show you, in the space of probably no more than a square kilometre, the impact on the residents and the impact on the police from trying to manage this situation," May said.
"Now that one of the main places has burnt down, the street seems more peaceful."
Police said the events they responded to could come from many sources including 'officer-discovered events,' and not just phone calls.
They said some of the 292 events could have happened outside the City Garden Lodge, and not all of them would have been attended by police.
Police said the tally did not include 'police-generated' events, like traffic stops or bail checks.