13 February 2020

Media: NZME (Daily Post, BOPTimes, NZHerald)

Topic: Government announcement of package to address homelessness

Enquiry

The Government this morning announced that they were stepping up action to prevent homelessness nationwide and we believe this is topical for the city given the state of the homelessness situation right now.

The announcement outlined:

1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation.

Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support.

Over $70m extra to programmes that prevent those at risk of losing their rentals becoming homeless and support people out of motels and into permanent accommodation.

Alongside these immediate actions, there is a long-term plan of action to address and reduce homelessness.

Could I please ask to get a response from Mayor Steve Chadwick on what this will mean to the city if we benefit from it? What do you hope the city will get from this? Is there a certain number of houses you hope we may receive to meet the need?

Reporter provided the following link to NZHerald breakdown of announcement:https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12308202

Response

From Mayor Steve Chadwick:

We obviously welcome this announcement and will be interested to understand the detail and how Rotorua could benefit.

We are already in very constructive discussions with the Government, its agencies and other key stakeholders like iwi, working together to develop local solutions to address Rotorua's housing challenges.

No-one should be homeless and we want long-term solutions for our community. However, there is no magic silver bullet and addressing our housing challenges - which extends beyond homelessness - will take an all-of-community and all-of-Government response. That's what we are working towards.