Once known as the jewel in the tourism crown, Rotorua residents said their town has seen better days. Photo: RNZ / MARIKA KHABAZI
Residents and business owners say the emergency housing system in Rotorua is "a bloody fiasco".
At the second to last day of the hearing between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and Rotorua Council, residents and business spoke about the impact of emergency housing in the community.
Once known as the jewel in the tourism crown, Rotorua residents said their town had seen better days.
With an increase in emergency housing, motels all over Fenton Street were packed with those waiting for a forever home since before the pandemic.
A submission from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development wanted to extend the resource consent for 13 Rotorua motels.
With the extension, the motels would be able to lock in emergency housing contracts for the next five years.
Former Rotorua councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait came to the hearing with her sister.
She said the emergency housing system in Rotorua had "created a monster".
"You've heard from the citizens of Rotorua and their concerns are absolutely correct. They are fearful of people that did not want to be in that position themselves," she said during her speech at the hearing.
Raukawa-Tait said motels were not designed to house families for long periods.
"When people live in close quarters as in a motel, there's always high stress and high tension. And many of those families already have health needs, and those just escalates. And that escalation plays out on the streets, in the behaviour that we see. It's unfair for the citizens of Rotorua."
Former Rotorua Counciillor Merepeka Raukawa Tait (Left) Photo: RNZ / MARIKA KHABAZI
The lobby group Restore Rotorua has about 200 members and its chairperson Trevor Newbrook also spoke at the hearing.
The increase of emergency housing changed the character of the town he lived in his whole life, he said.
"There's a lot of gangs, there's a lot of drug dealing, there a lot of alcohol abuse. There's a lot of rubbish, the streets have been cleaned for the hearing, but Fenton Street has been pretty messy in the last couple of years."
Newbrook said emergency housing clusters made the city unsafe.
"People are worried about their safety. If you go back three years I would not have thought twice about walking home - I live just a couple of streets up the road here - I would quite happily walk home from town at night on my own. I would not even consider going onto Fenton Street at night on my own now, so it's definitely an issue."
Restore Rotorua chairperson Trevor Newbrook (Centre) Photo: RNZ / MARIKA KHABAZI
Real estate agent Jodi Ratahi has lived in Rotorua her whole life and spoke on the hearing this morning.
The property market has taken a hit after the increase of emergency housing motels, she said.
"You imagine, you are looking for a property to buy and you are a single mum with a child, and you keep hearing a lot of things that are not so nice going on next to the house you are looking at. You are either not going to look at it or you either going to pay a lot less and live in desperation".
Kane Alexander has been living in an emergency house in Rotorua for more than a year.
This morning he spoke at the hearing and said those in emergency housing needed support.
"I'm standing up for victims. I realise that there's not enough people sticking up for victims and most people in these places don't have the intelligence or support network, or group to show them in the right direction, so they have nowhere to run to."
The hearing is expected to be closed tomorrow and the findings should be released by the end of November.