{"id":153543,"date":"2025-11-25T21:24:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T21:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/153543\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T21:24:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T21:24:05","slug":"rotorua-mayor-tania-tapsell-hits-back-at-labours-homeless-strategy-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/153543\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell hits back at Labour\u2019s homeless strategy criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 2022 report estimated the city \u2013 New Zealand\u2019s birthplace of international tourism<\/a> \u2013 lost $17 million in tourism spending in three months due to \u201cnegative perceptions\u201d, in part driven by the motel issues.<\/p>\n

The current Government pledged to end<\/a> the scheme by December this year, and by mid-2025 stopped new referrals to the motels.<\/p>\n

At its peak, 240 households were in the 13 contracted motels, making Rotorua \u201cthe poster child of a broken emergency housing system\u201d, Potaka said.<\/p>\n

In response, Labour housing spokesman Kieran McAnulty said he saw eight homeless people on a recent Rotorua visit. He argued the Government\u2019s plan risked shifting people back on to the streets. <\/p>\n

Concerns about people sleeping rough in the CBD, and antisocial behaviour by some<\/a>, had hit the headlines over winter, with Rotorua Lakes Council eventually issuing trespass notices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\" Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka and Rotorua MP Todd McClay. Photo \/ Annabel Reid<\/p>\n

Tapsell said she was \u201cannoyed\u201d by McAnulty\u2019s comments, and she did not want Rotorua used as a political football.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts when comments are not accurate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen any evidence that those sleeping rough on the footpath are due to being removed from emergency housing motels.\u201d<\/p>\n

The process of transitioning from emergency housing was monitored and phased to ensure residents moved into safe, stable housing, she said.<\/p>\n

About half of the new homes built in Rotorua last year were social housing or affordable rentals \u2013 including 104 new K\u0101inga Ora social housing spaces<\/a>. Last month, the Government announced a further 80 coming to Manawa Gardens next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Rotorua had a public housing proportion of 2.5%,<\/a> below the national 4% average.<\/p>\n

\" Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell speaks at the funding announcement for Manawa Gardens. Photo \/ Annabel Reid<\/p>\n

This made increasing the affordable housing stock a key factor in combating what was likely Rotorua\u2019s \u201cworst-ever social disaster\u201d, Tapsell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a phased approach,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to directly reduce the emergency motels but make sure people were going into safe and stable homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing families being placed in brand-new and affordable healthy homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tapsell praised the \u201congoing generosity\u201d of Ng\u0101ti Whakaue iwi as well as local volunteer groups who provided \u201cfood, support, and filled gaps where needed\u201d with little fanfare.<\/p>\n

She said crime rates had also improved due to the reduction in emergency housing, as well as investment in the community safety hub<\/a>, City Guardians<\/a>, increased CCTV and additional police presence.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Police victim statistics show a 6.7% drop in central city crime between 2022\/23 (September-August) and the same period in 2024\/25, with a 10.35% drop in the city overall.<\/p>\n

Tapsell now wants Rotorua to shed the reputation it has gained in recent years. <\/p>\n

\"SaveSave Our City signs in protest at contracted emergency housing in Rotorua. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was, at one time, over 1000 negative media articles and interviews in one year about our city,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The recovery strategy included attracting more investment into domestic<\/a> and international tourism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Council staff were also finalising a homelessness strategy alongside housing, health and education agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just finding these people a roof,\u201d Tapsell said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s helping connect them into employment, addressing health issues, and preventing homelessness in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The homelessness strategy should be out \u201cearly next year\u201d, Tapsell said. <\/p>\n

A Ministry of Social Development spokesperson confirmed two non-contracted emergency housing providers remain in Rotorua, providing shelter for nine households as of October 31.<\/p>\n

Rooms are provided via an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant for those in genuine need.<\/p>\n

Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.<\/p>\n

\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 2022 report estimated the city \u2013 New Zealand\u2019s birthplace of international tourism \u2013 lost $17 million in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1975,1863,13849,16848,10039,3054,99524,15974,4508,681,3339,27699,10934,96263,111,43,139,69,1327,3170,656,44160,56661,3764],"class_list":["post-153543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-at","tag-back","tag-citys","tag-contracted","tag-controversial","tag-criticism","tag-defended","tag-emergency","tag-hits","tag-homeless","tag-housing","tag-labours","tag-mayor","tag-motels","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rotorua","tag-scheme","tag-strategy","tag-tania","tag-tapsell","tag-transition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}