Emergency housing’s biggest earners
Revealed: Motels/ hotels earning more than $1m a year
The motels and hotels which make the most money from emergency housing across Hawke’s Bay have been revealed. The Bluewater Hotel in Ahuriri was the highest earner in Hawke’s Bay after raking in almost $4 million during the 12 months to the end of March 2022.
The director of the hotel says he has no plans to return to traditional accommodation in the short term, and would never offer mixed accommodation even as international tourism picks up because “it doesn’t work”.
Hastings Top 10 Holiday Park is second on the list of top earners for the same period (earning $3.08m), followed by Fountain Court Motor Inn in Napier ($2.34m), The Nautilus Napier ($1.44m), and Wairoa Motel ($1.38m).
An Official Information Act request by Hawke’s Bay Today revealed there are now nine accommodation providers earning more than $1m a year in the region from emergency housing grants.
A full list of those providers can be found at right.
The Ministry of Social Development issues grants for people who are in urgent need of housing, which covers the cost of participating motels and hotels that supply rooms.
“Demand for housing across New Zealand is growing and more people are experiencing a severe and immediate need [for housing],” a Ministry of Social Development spokesperson said.
“People on low incomes are most affected by rising housing costs and many seek financial help through the ministry in the form of emergency housing.”
A housing advocate recently told Hawke’s Bay Today the biggest issue forcing people into motels across the region was high rental prices and a lack of rentals, which had become unaffordable and hard to come by for many people.
The waiting list for permanent public housing has also blown out in Hawke’s Bay, which means many people have nowhere to turn but an emergency motel.
Rodney Green, director of the Bluewater Hotel in Ahuriri, said his facility had the most rooms of any emergency housing provider in the region, which was why they were at the top of the list for highest earners.
He said those rooms were always full.
“We are the biggest hotel provider, with 50 rooms. Most of the other [emergency housing providers] have 20 rooms or under,” he said.
“At the time we were approached to do emergency housing we weighed it up among the team and started with 10 rooms. It became obvious [at the start of Covid] that there is no tourism, so we have filled the hotel with emergency housing.”
He said they had not raised their prices, which were currently the same as what they offered pre-Covid.
“In this environment you would not do that.”
He said they were earning slightly more than as a traditional accommodation provider pre-Covid, as the hotel
was now 100 per cent full with emergency housing.
“I love looking after the bulk of the people [in emergency housing] who are very, very good, humble, respectful people,” he said. “You get the odd bad apple but as a whole they are very, very good people.”
He said they may revisit traditional accommodation in the future but they would not do mixed accommodation as “it doesn’t work”, in terms of half emergency housing and half traditional accommodation.
Green is also a director of the Fountain Court Motor Inn in Napier, which is third on the list of top earners in Hawke’s Bay.
Hawke’s Bay Today has also contacted Hastings Top 10 Holiday Park, The Nautilus Napier, and Wairoa Motel for comment.
As of the end of February, there were 380 households in emergency housing in the East Coast region, which includes Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne.