A Kaitaia hotel has been forced to switch from tourism provider to social services operator.
The Northerner was once a grand hotel for visitors to the Far North - these days it's a refuge for those in desperate need of help.
The hotel has been home to six newborn babies in the past year.
There are no tourists in sight but 63 rooms are occupied with people who have no-where else to go.
Amorangi Tahu has lived at the hotel for six months with her three children.
She pays $270 a week for the room.
“It was literally my saving grace,” she says.
“I was two weeks shy of having my baby. I was pretty much staying in my car - the kids that are in my care, I had to have stay elsewhere.”
The hotel once catered to busloads of tourists visiting Cape Reinga but the business model had to change when the buses bypassed Kaitaia.
Caroline Tapsell has been the manager since the hotel changed hands two years ago.
“As well as being a businessman, the owner wanted to make this place more like a hub for our whanau in need. There were no places for them - we had working poor here,” she says.
On paper, the housing situation in Kaitaia doesn't seem too bad, with figures from last year showing 11 Kaitaia families homeless but in reality places like The Northerner are picking up the slack.
Because it’s not an official housing provider the Ministry of Social Development doesn't count the people who live there.
Hotel management has brought in social workers to help residents and police say their visits have become less frequent.
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