Might change motel system ‘forced’ on city
I’m hoping our council will stand up to them but they can only do what they can do.
Carolyne Hall
Newbrook said the accord sounded like it “could be really good progress”. “It does give me a little bit of hope.” However he believed the council needed to get the Government to commit to targets on how it would reduce — and end — the use of emergency housing motels, how long it would take and what would happen to the people already in motels.
He also believed the Government needed to exert more control over where people lived in emergency housing.
Newbrook said he agreed people should be able to live wherever they wanted but if taxpayer money was being used for their accommodation,
some “compromises” needed to be made.
“People can move to Rotorua if they’re paying their own way.”
Rotorua MP Todd Mcclay, who has repeatedly called on the Government to implement a sinking lid policy, said yesterday it needed to be done urgently, along with a cap on numbers.
He also believed the Government needed to set a deadline within the next 12 months for motels to be returned to visitor-only use.
Housing Minister Megan Woods said it was in discussion with the council, Te Arawa and Ngati Whakaue around developing “a collective plan and provide for strengthened central and local government and iwi leadership to address the housing crisis in Rotorua”.
She was “confident that we can substantially meet the mayor’s objectives around motel use”.