July 25, 2021
Parties come together to fix Rotorua housing crisis
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Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick says Kainga Ora’s purchase of a motel in the city for emergency accommodation is a sign of a larger plan to tackle the region’s homelessness crisis is coming together.
Steve Chadwick says the council, housing agency Kainga Ora, the Ministry for Housing and Urban Development, Ministry for Social Development, Te Puni Kōkiri and iwi are now working together.
While the $8 million price tag for the motel is being criticised, Mayor Chadwick says people should not lose sight of the bigger picture.
The area needs 6000 more homes, so her council is working on the consenting and infrastructure needed to support that.
"Hapū are coming to us with their aspirations – this is where we would like papakainga. We've got developers coming and saying we could open up more if we had support with infrastructure like stormwater, wastewater. Prior to last December, when we set up the Housing Plan it was rather haphazard but now people realise we've got a challenge and we are going to sort it out together," Mayor Chadwick says.
She says there is a network of social support providers with local knowledge are coming in behind the effort.
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