September 07, 2022
Rotorua homeless response inhumane
A Rotorua Māori leader says the crisis in emergency housing in the sulphur city is a human rights issue.
There has been calls for a inquiry in the wake of a TVNZ Sunday exposure of conditions in the motels used for emergency and transitional housing for the homeless.
Te Tatau o te Arawa chair Te Taru White says it seems Rotorua has become the homeless capital of Aotearoa without any planning or resources put into fixing the inevitable problems.
He says the streets are unsafe at nights, and many families find themselves living in complexes where fights and drug activities are regular occurrences.
“I would argue that for families it is inhumane. The motel units you’ve got a small fridge, you’ve got microwave ovens and you’ve got families with three or so kids, bringing them up over the last year plus in those motel units. It’s like having them in cramped cubicles and that’s no way to treat humans let alone our people,” Mr White says.
Te Taru White says at the beginning or the crisis authorities claimed more than 90 percent of the homeless were Te Arawa, but the figure is likely to be less than 50 percent.