Rotorua’s emergency housing footprint has shrunk to a single motel accommodating about a dozen households.
By Mathew Nash of Local Democracy Reporting
It is a dramatic decline from the years when the city became the face of New Zealand’s emergency housing debate.
At a hearing last week into Rotorua Lakes Council’s Proposed Plan Change 10, Ministry of Social Development regional commissioner Jacob Davies said one motel was supporting about a dozen households through emergency housing grants in the Rotorua Lakes District.
Planners, housing providers and submitters debated at the hearing how emergency housing accommodation should be treated under the district plan.
The present contrast with peak years is stark.
“Demand for emergency housing in the Rotorua Lakes District peaked over 2020/21, when there were over 600 households in emergency housing,” Davies said.
While the hearing focused on planning provisions rather than housing numbers, it provided a snapshot of Rotorua’s progress since the period when emergency housing dominated local politics and attracted national attention.
When Covid-19 hit hard, Rotorua’s famous gateway, the motels of Fenton St, went from holiday to emergency housing. (Source: 1News)
Davies attributed the decline to increased public housing, new community housing developments and efforts to move families into permanent homes sooner.
“Softening rental prices may have also contributed to the reduction in emergency housing demand by making the private rental market more accessible for low-income whānau,” he said.
At the height of the Government’s emergency housing response, 62 Rotorua motels and hotels were used for families in need of housing, according to Mayor Tania Tapsell.
“I’m proud of how far Rotorua has come; the days of the emergency housing disaster are now well and truly behind us,” Tapsell said.
“This is a huge achievement and reflects the collaborative work to deliver better housing solutions from council, government agencies, iwi, service providers and our wider community.”
In a speech at last week’s Local Government New Zealand annual conference at Rotorua’s Energy Events Centre, Tapsell said the issue generated “over 1000 negative media articles and interviews” and posed a significant risk to the district’s tourism and hospitality sector.
Despite the sharp decline, the council and MSD say emergency housing remains an important part of the wider housing system.
“Although the eligibility criteria and processes for emergency housing were tightened in August 2024, it remains available as a last resort for people who meet the criteria and have nowhere else to go,” Davies said.
Tapsell said Rotorua still needed “an appropriate level of safe and well managed emergency housing”.
The council’s destination development manager Jean-Paul Gaston said the proposed changes were not intended to prevent motels from becoming emergency housing.
“Intermittent use of visitor accommodation for emergency generally raises few issues and has always been part of our housing system,” he said.
“Issues have arisen when there is a larger scale, dedicated residential use of visitor accommodation.”
Gaston said the proposed approach would allow each situation to be assessed on its merits.
The independent hearing commissioner has reserved a decision on Plan Change 10.
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including an Australian MP is attacked with a car, rare footage of the world’s second largest animal, and the couple going viral for dining during a riot. (Source: 1News)
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