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Download AudioA Rotorua Lake district councilor says legal action to enforce bylaws on emergency accommodation is not just a challenge to moteliers but to the government agencies dumping the homeless in the sulphur city.
Opinion around the council table about going to the decision to go to the Environment Court is divided.
But Tania Tapsell says the council has few tools to deal with what is turning into a long term problem.
Motel consents are based on having people say one or two nights, not as permanent housing.
She says when people show up at Ministry for Social Development offices around the country, in many cases they get not just accommodation vouchers but a ticket to Rotorua.
“We’ve had 1121 people through emergency housing in Rotorua in the past year so what we are saying to government is ‘we’re doing our fair share, we need to look after our people but we can’t keep taking all of these people in from out of town.’ The solution is we must invest across the country, build more homes in general, but also build more social housing,” Ms Tapsell says.
She says using motels was supposed to be a temporary measure, but it’s now been more than two years.
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