FNDC delivery and operations group manager Ruben Garcia said the council would liaise with community providers and the Ministry of Social Development to ensure the agencies \u201care aware of anyone requiring assistance\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe council has limited options available where people are sleeping in their vehicles outside the building. <\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, we will respond to complaints and would consider issuing trespass notices against anyone creating a disturbance … or damaging the property. <\/p>\n
\u201cBefore work begins, we will ensure that relevant community and government agencies are aware of anyone who requires assistance and may be affected by the demolition work.\u201d <\/p>\n
The council bought the property in 2020 for $1.2 million, with the aim of securing a long-term outcome. <\/p>\n
In 2021, the council resolved to lease the property to Te Hiku Basketball and Recreation Centre Trust to enable it to build a sports and community hub. <\/p>\n
The lease required the trust to meet funding requirements, however, these were not met and the lease came to an end in mid-2024. <\/p>\n
FNDC Te Hiku ward councillor Felicity Foy said there would be a \u201cnew built development\u201d to replace the old building, but the carpark and access wouldn\u2019t change. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe carpark will be preserved for the public. <\/p>\n
\u201cIdeally, they\u2019d [homeless] have somewhere to sleep that isn\u2019t a public carpark, but the carpark isn\u2019t changing. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of social services in town so hopefully they\u2019re working to address that concern.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kait\u0101ia Business Association chairman Josh Kirby said he\u2019s seen cars and vans parked there \u201cfrom time to time\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe assumption is they\u2019re sleeping in the cars. <\/p>\n
\u201cFeedback from businesses on Commerce St which back on to the Warehouse carpark is that, from time to time, there is homelessness around that space. <\/p>\n
\u201cOccasionally there\u2019s drinking and antisocial behaviour which can impact the business community.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kirby said there were several social services around Kait\u0101ia and he was \u201cin favour of trying to find roofs for people doing it tough\u201d. <\/p>\n
Any development in the area was positive, he said, especially as break-ins and vandalism have caused significant damage. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe old building hasn\u2019t had any love for a long time. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s positive news.\u201d <\/p>\n
Te Rarawa chairman Haami Piripi said he was aware of \u201ca number of homeless people\u201d around Kait\u0101ia sleeping in the former Warehouse carpark. <\/p>\n
It was a popular spot, he said, because there were public toilets nearby. <\/p>\n
\u201cI understand why people who have nowhere to go, go there.\u201d <\/p>\n
Piripi said wh\u0101nau would still use the carpark, even once it was developed. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey will still park up there … it\u2019s a very central place. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an ideal spot for anyone to safely camp up for the night.\u201d <\/p>\n
Garcia said the council was yet to decide on the demolition date. <\/p>\n
While future commercial proposals remain under wraps, \u201ca critical consideration\u201d would be the needs of existing community activities such as the popular Kait\u0101ia Market, he said. <\/p>\n
The Advocate contacted Ng\u0101ti Kahu Social and Health Services and Te Whare Ruruhau o Meri Trust for comment, however, they did not respond before deadline. <\/p>\n
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FNDC delivery and operations group manager Ruben Garcia said the council would liaise with community providers and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[41110,674,138,26665,6799,5205,18841,31390,528,9832,681,41109,18839,111,139,529,69,1118,9716,6029,384,2171,1321,27250,1072,165,41111,18840,1533],"class_list":["post-47050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-affected","tag-building","tag-business","tag-carpark","tag-cars","tag-council","tag-demolished","tag-demolition","tag-far","tag-helped","tag-homeless","tag-kaitaia","tag-kaitia","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-north","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-old","tag-once","tag-people","tag-plans","tag-services","tag-sleeping","tag-social","tag-their","tag-trespassed","tag-warehouse","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47050","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=47050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}