Safety fears for staff at homeless hotel
New operator moves workers off-site after client's psychotic episode
"It is my hope with everyone engaged, we will have a wellness centre for those with high complex needs but the centre of town is not the place for it."
Lifewise chief executive
Haehaetu Barrett
Mental health and addictions staff helping homeless people at a Rotorua hotel have been removed for safety reasons after a client had a psychotic episode.
Lifewise has raised serious concerns about the suitability of the Four Canoes Hotel housing homeless people with complex needs. The Government contracts the
Fenton St hotel for housing, but does not have council resource consent for this. It is home to more than 30 residents, some of whom have complex mental health and drug addiction issues.
Lifewise has taken over the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development contract for the hotel operations from Te Taumata o Nga¯ti Whakaue Iho Ake Trust, which had been there since the March 2020 lockdown.
The hotel was contracted as part of a Covid-19 response to give rough sleepers or people in overcrowded homes somewhere to isolate.
The Government has since committed to accommodating them until longer-term housing is found. Lifewise chief executive Haehaetu Barrett said
she became concerned after taking over operations this month.
She said she and Lifewise regional manager Tepora Apirana did not believe Four Canoes Hotel was an appropriate site for its current use and wanted to explore alternative locations.
On Monday, a client at the hotel had a psychotic episode coming down from methamphetamine and was taken to Rotorua Hospital’s inpatient unit for drug-withdrawal support, Barrett said.
As a result of the incident, Lifewise staff were no longer based at the site for health and safety because staffing did not meet the levels required to cater for complex needs.
Barrett declined to give further details of the incident.
Barrett and Apirana said staff would support those living there via managed daily visits. Security was still based at the hotel.
They believed the building itself was not suitable because it had breakable windows, too many entry points, blind spots and was on a busy road.
Barrett said they were working with community and government providers to find solutions.
“It is my hope with everyone engaged, we will have a wellness centre for those with high complex needs but the centre of town is not the place for it.”
The community surrounding the hotel should not
have to endure what she witnessed on Monday, she said, and clients deserved better care.
“I am not happy with the community response to date to this highly complex group and we are working to make change to provide better support with the agencies.”
Ministry partnership and performance general manager Will Barris said he was not aware of any issues over the past two years.
Asked if the Fenton St location — a busy road and the gateway to Rotorua — was appropriate for people with mental health and addiction problems, Barris said emergency accommodation was an alternative to people sleeping rough in unsafe and unhealthy situations.
The Rotorua Daily Post Weekend asked if the hotel was
unsafe for those with complex needs and if the ministry would investigate.
Barris said the safety of staff, clients and the local community was a priority.
“We acknowledge the situation is challenging for all involved and are concerned about the health and safety of both the tenants and the people supporting them. We are working with Lifewise to identify any further practical steps [the ministry] might take to support health and safety at Four Canoes.”
Extra security would be put in place if needed.
Te Taumata o Nga¯ti Whakaue Iho Ake Trust spokesman Rawiri Bhana said the nature of its contract was not to provide clinical support but to settle clients at the hotel and create a plan, based on their needs, to access support services. Social workers also
aimed to help clients find longerterm accommodation.
If issues had escalated to a point they could not manage, they would have made changes.
“We acknowledge there [were clients] there with high and complex needs and our staff often had challenges accessing the appropriate support for [them].”
The trust had 24-hour security onsite to ensure everyone was safe, he said.
He said the trust acknowledged some responsibility that the state of the building “wasn’t escalated”.
The trust took on the contract with the best intentions to support wha¯ nau during a time of need but it was never intended to be longterm, Bhana said.
It worked towards a smooth transition with Lifewise — an obvious choice due to its expertise in mental health and addiction.
Asked if it was too difficult to manage the high-needs clients, Bhana said its role was to help clients get access to health, social, employment and financial needs and to secure longer-term housing.
“We often had to advocate on their behalf to ensure our wha¯nau were getting the specialised support they often required from the agencies charged with providing this. This was often the challenging part, working with a system that is already overloaded.”
The trust employed seven staff. Three had found other jobs and four were working for Lifewise.
Asked if the ministry’s model kept people safe, Bhana said most of those staying at the hotel had been sleeping rough and were often not engaged with support they “desperately needed”.
“Having a roof over their head, a warm place to sleep and a team of people advocating on their behalf with security onsite created a safer place for them.”
Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook said it was good the issues at the hotel were being made public but he said local people should be consulted on how to address the concerns.
“We are vulnerable too.
“People need help and should receive it but is the centre of Rotorua, on a main street, the appropriate place?”
He called on the Government and the council to ensure the hotel had proper resource consent.
Motels and hotels operating emergency housing in Rotorua do not have council resource consent because they are only consented for short-term visitors.
The ministry has applied for resource consent for 12 city motels to operate emergency housing for five years but Four Canoes is not one of them so the housing operation was unlawful under the district plan.
Rotorua Lakes Council is now taking a strict approach with other non-contracted emergency housing motels and threatened some with court action, but not Four Canoes.
The council has previously said it was taking “a staged approach” to minimise impacts for those in the hotels and motels. When asked again about Four Canoes this week, a council spokesman confirmed there was still no resource consent and it was liaising with the ministry and the operators.
The Rotorua Daily Post Weekend asked police for information about how often they were called to the Four Canoes hotel and why.
Inspector Phil Taikato responded via police communications with this statement: “Police’s role is to ensure everyone in our community is safe and feels safe, and we work alongside a range of community partners to do this. There is some great work being done by social service providers in Rotorua to help support our more vulnerable residents.”