{"id":43526,"date":"2025-09-26T00:53:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T00:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/43526\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T00:53:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T00:53:10","slug":"rotorua-mayoral-hopeful-shakaina-fraser-campaigns-on-housing-family-and-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/43526\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotorua mayoral hopeful Shakaina Fraser campaigns on housing, family and community"},"content":{"rendered":"

Referring to the cost of living and Rotorua\u2019s homelessness issues, she said: \u201cIf we pay for rent, pay for power, pay for all of us in a family, we won\u2019t even have money to buy food.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of those people on the streets right now used to own or rent homes,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re now living on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting people off the streets was a key issue for Fraser, whose background is in horticulture, agriculture and community psychology.<\/p>\n

\"Rotorua'sRotorua’s homeless, such as those gathering here on Pukuatua St, are a focus for mayoral candidate Shakaina Fraser. Photo \/ Kelly Makiha<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have to be some subsidies available to our beneficiaries to be able to get into those rental homes. If they can\u2019t, then cap them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She drew on personal experience to illustrate the burden, describing her own three-bedroom house at $620 a week. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to afford that comfortably with my family living with me, even with just one daughter. Because we both worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was no longer the case after a change in circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was put on the edge. With all the benefits I could qualify for, it only came to $547. I still had to pay for the car, my rent and having given all that money over, how am I going to now live?\u201d<\/p>\n

Fraser\u2019s campaign has been unorthodox. First, there was confusion over her name. She remains listed on the ballot as Takeina Fraser, her legal name. She said she was not allowed to use her middle and preferred name.<\/p>\n

Then there was the recent court appearance for driving while disqualified <\/a>from holding or obtaining a driver\u2019s licence. She has denied the charge.<\/p>\n

Then there was the self-admission that she had previously been trespassed from the Rotorua courthouse, Work and Income, and the Inland Revenue Department buildings.<\/p>\n

\"ShakainaShakaina Fraser was trespassed from the Rotorua courthouse. Photo \/ Kelly Makiha<\/p>\n

Despite these issues, Fraser said she would be a vocal advocate for Rotorua\u2019s families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can relate with a woman who has been beaten up. I can relate from a caregiver\u2019s point of view with people whose children have been removed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Fraser, family wellbeing is tied directly to wider priorities. \u201cIt needs to be addressed because if we\u2019re not going to take care of our families and our people, how are we going to take care of our money and other things?\u201d<\/p>\n

Fraser offered a sharp rebuke of the current council leadership, saying Mayor Tania Tapsell has \u201cdivided\u201d the council and, in her view, \u201chasn\u2019t done anything\u201d for the city.<\/p>\n

\"SolarSolar panelling, like this at Lodestone’s Kohira solar farm, near Kait\u0101ia, is something Fraser backs. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Fraser believes rates are not offering \u201cany improvements\u201d, especially for Rotorua\u2019s natural environment. She has proposed using collected rainwater as a means of cleaning Rotorua\u2019s lakes and advocated for more solar power usage \u2013 to reduce environmental impact and long-term cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be mayor because of what\u2019s happening here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can see it with our own eyes, and I know it by my own experiences, my work, and I see it in my family, I see it in my communities, that decline. People\u2019s needs are not being met now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voting in Rotorua\u2019s local body elections remains open until October 11.<\/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 Britain 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":"Referring to the cost of living and Rotorua\u2019s homelessness issues, she said: \u201cIf we pay for rent, pay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1443,95,9218,7800,35936,21323,1259,13600,5903,7797,2109,1342,21170,10670,38713,3339,1452,3112,440,21168,111,43,139,69,1570,90,38716,5352,1327,38715,38712,8238,38714],"class_list":["post-43526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-about","tag-and","tag-before","tag-body","tag-campaigns","tag-candidates","tag-community","tag-democracy","tag-election","tag-elections","tag-family","tag-five","tag-fraser","tag-hopeful","tag-hopefuls","tag-housing","tag-issues","tag-job","tag-local","tag-mayoral","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-october","tag-on","tag-quizzed","tag-reporting","tag-rotorua","tag-rotoruas","tag-shakaina","tag-under","tag-vying"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43526","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=43526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}