5 July 2018
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Visions of a Helping Hand shelter
Response (scroll down for questions)
From Operations Group Manager Henry Weston:
Council is very aware of the issue of homelessness in our community and we have been working alongside a number of groups, organisations and individuals for some time now with the ultimate aim of finding long-term solutions. Staff also recently met with a group of homeless people to hear from them about their needs and that resulted in an action plan aimed at addressing some immediate and practical needs. This was approved by Council last week and includes continuing to work with others, including Mr Deane, to progress the establishment of a night shelter.
Council has been working for some time with Mr Deane to support his efforts to establish emergency housing and a night shelter and we continue to work with him. We haven't closed down the shelter.
The building needs some work before it is safe for the purposes of overnight sleeping and Mr Deane had agreed to operate it as an overnight drop-in centre - not for overnight sleeping - until such time as he was able to get the required work done for a consent that would enable him to have people sleeping there overnight. We agreed this was an opportunity to provide those who are homeless with shelter and facilities in a safe and warm environment during the winter months.
We are doing what we can to help Mr Deane meet requirements (to enable overnight sleeping) which need to be met to ensure the safety of the people he is helping, and have assured him a consent would be processed as quickly as possible.
Council offered to pay for both the fire report and the construction engineer's report which are needed as part of that process to ensure the building is safe for overnight sleeping.
Despite assurances from Mr Deane to the contrary, we become aware that the premises were being used for overnight sleeping. Staff inspected today and confirmed this was the case. They again reinforced with Mr Deane that he cannot currently operate these premises for overnight sleeping and that work is required to make it safe for this purpose.
Council has no discretion here - it's a matter of people's safety and we have a duty of care. We've been very clear about that from the start and this was reiterated with Mr Deane as recently as yesterday [Weds] and last month in writing.
The people he is helping are vulnerable and many have drug and alcohol issues so it's very important that where they sleep is safe. A confined space without proper fire systems would pose a huge risk.
It would be irresponsible of us to turn a blind eye but we will continue to support Mr Deane in his endeavours.
Staff who have been working on homelessness have visited the premises since Mr Deane re-opened the premises as an overnight drop-in centre. At that time there were no beds set up. Today when staff visited it was clearly being used as a dormitory.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
Council has been working with the Rotorua Working Together group (which is a group of government agencies) and is part of the Whiria Te Aroha Group (government agencies and local organisations working together on longer term solutions for homelessness).
Here's the link to the homelessness action plan which was supported by the Ops & Monitoring Committee in early June and adopted by the Full Council last week: https://www.rotorualakescouncil.nz/AgendasAndMinutes/Operations%20and%20Monitoring%20Committee/2018/Printed%20AGENDA%20Operations%20and%20Monitoring%20Committee%20meeting%207%20June%202018.pdf
The following information (this is not verbatim) was reinforced with Mr Deane by email and in writing last month:
Operating the premises as a night shelter would be a change of use (from work/office to accommodation) so a new consent is required. Meeting the required standards for accommodation of this type requires a report from a qualified fire safety expert and a report from a qualified structural engineer. Council has offered to cover the cost of these two reports. An undertaking was given that once these reports are received Council will work as quickly as possible through the consenting process.
Enquiry
We have heard from Tiny Deane, of Visions of a Helping Hand, that a Rotorua Lakes Council inspector contacted him to say he would be visiting Sanctuary Manaakitanga (the night shelter) today, is this correct?
- Was the inspector there to assess how the night shelter was being used?
- If this assessment deems that there are people sleeping there, will the night shelter be closed? When will this happen?
- Is the building consented to have people sleeping there?
- Are there any reasons other than consent why the shelter will be shut down?
- Will the shelter be reopened?
- Why are the council acting now, four weeks after the shelter opened?
- Has the council received complaints in relation to the night shelter or people sleeping there? How many and what do the complaints entail?
- Has the council put any provisions in place for the homeless to support them if the shelter is closed?
- We understand council staff did an inspection prior to today and noted the mattresses were there, why was this not questioned if the premises did not have consent for people to be sleeping there?
- We have on audio from a meeting with Roana Bennett, Norma Sturley and Tiny on May 31 that council staff had made it understood to them they would put any complaints relating to the shelter in the "too hard basket" and would wait out the response time until winter was over, what is your response to this?
- On audio they have said they had been told by council staff "go ahead and do it, and we'll catch up with you", what is your response to this?
- What were the council processes in the lead up to the shelter being opened? Did that include checking the purpose of the night shelter?
- We understand that Tiny Deane met with ----- and confirmed people were sleeping there why was this not flagged until now?
- How long does the consent process take and what are the parameters?
- Tiny has said "everything we've done for the homeless in this town is knocked back by the council", what is your response to this?
- Tiny has said in light of the council closing the shelter that the council "don't see the homeless as being your responsibility", what is your response to this?
- Tiny has said since the shelter opened there has been no visit from council or no discussion about the outcomes he is seeing with the homeless, what is your response to this?
Subsequent message from reporter:
Please ignore this question from my previous email.
- We understand that Tiny Deane met with ----- and confirmed people were sleeping there why was this not flagged until now?
We have been unable to confirm this with Tiny.
Further message from reporter:
I have just spoken to members of the public to see how they feel about the possibility of the night shelter closing and to avoid bias I would like to put those comments to the council for response.
- "There's a feeling in the community that city leaders made a lot of commitment at the end of the hikoi, I am sure leaders would want to honour that commitment," what is your response?
- "The council has to pull out all the stops to get consents in places as quickly as possible. Taupō District Council had consent within two days and while I know the circumstances might not be identical here, the need is," what is your response?
- "My initial reaction is profound disappointment, that the council could not accelerate consenting in these very exceptional circumstances," what is your response?
