Podcast: the detail
Motel owners in Rotorua are raking in millions of dollars by taking in emergency housing tenants, but locals say it’s a blot on the city’s image. The detail visits the city’s eleven bustling tourist accommodation district.
Fenton Street used to be Rotorua’s Golden Mile.
Now locals call this stretch of road ‘MSD Mile’ for the dozens of motels that house hundreds of homeless people.
“It became a bit of a cash cow for the moteliers,” said Kelly Makiha, a senior at journalist the RotoruaDaily Post†
“The word has quickly spread that if you are in need, you can come to Rotorua and get a motel.
“Some of these moteliers make millions a year.”
But the locals are devastated, Makiha says: they are too afraid to drive on the road at night when people openly deal drugs; cars are broken into, overturned on their roofs and set on fire; neighbors’ property is destroyed and people are mistreated.
Trevor Newbrook of Restore Rotorua, a group dedicated to reviving the city’s reputation as a premier tourist destination, takes The detail on a drive along Fenton Street. He points to motel after motel that has been converted from tourist accommodation to emergency housing.
Last week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development applied for permission to convert 12 motels into temporary housing for more than 1,000 people.
The ministry has already contracted these motels to house the homeless, but the funds’ approval makes it legal to run them as emergency and temporary housing for up to five years, with enveloping services for the residents, including 24-hour security.
“What’s stopping them from doing it for another five years?” asks Newbrook.
“It all seems rather permanent as opposed to temporary emergency housing.”
The Rotorua Lakes Council recently took legal action against nine of the 40 motels used for emergency housing for failing to comply with the district plan. The neighborhood plan rules allow the motels to receive visitors only temporarily, but some residents stay for several months.
The council has since dropped the legal action, but the motels have been told to stick to the plan if they want to proceed with emergency housing.
Makiha says some motels “don’t make it.”
Makiha has met many people who really need shelter, but she has also met a couple from Gisborne who had left their children with grandparents because they wanted some alone time.
Many people feel that the government has made it too easy to get emergency housing, Makiha says, and people who are not from Rotorua should go back to where they came from.
Newbrook says the motels aren’t a place for families. He points out one where traffic cones block the driveway, cars park in the grass verges and there is no room for children to play.
“Ultimately, the government pays the bills. They are responsible for it and they have created this situation and they have to do something about it,” Newbrook said.
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