TRM have again been questioned rudely for not making the big family units available for “emergency housing” clients who were turned away last week. These issues have been thrashed out before. Below is the last blog on this issue dated March 23. One problem they do not want to acknowledge is for certain periods in the future the motel is completely booked out. i.e. For Labour Weekend we are hosting a car club – they booked months ago. In November TRM are hosting “Reel Recovery” – for men with cancer. They booked it up after a similar event last year. They completely take over the motel during their therapy sessions. In January we are booked out for a school group. Later in 2023 TRM is booked out for a rugby tournament. etc… So even if for some obscure reason we allowed units to become Government’s “temporary” (?) emergency shelter, we would have to vacate the units every time we had booked it for a special event like those above. SImply it would not work.
Motel closing in Turangi?
Since TRM commented in a blog on how sad it is to see another motel closing to tourists in Turangi, SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed is the Manager of everything She can see in Turangi) has been pestered with questions from residents and inmates – which one? There are nine motels in Turangi plus many other back-packers and converted residential accommodations waiting and hoping for the tourists to return… Their fear and the threat was that a motel might be converted for “emergency housing”? … (UPDATE: Since then that motel, Settlers, has been converted for emergency housing clients – that is the third motel in Turangi.)
The local fear was that it would become restricted for use only by Government as “Emergency” housing. Many local residents, particularly those living close by were naturally very upset at this. Their concerns are justified too. The recent problems with a similar motel in Taupo illustrate what happens when “Gang” members take over.
Basic financial economics understandably support the use of motels as a cheap way or as a quick fix for Government to provide emergency housing. In other larger cities, Auckland, Rotorua, etc. the Government have paid $Millions for many motels. The government has spent almost $16.5 million over the past four years buying motels since converted into emergency housing. Everyone can relate to that.
They could be accused of suffering from the “NIMBY” (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome. Their concerns are justified. That is part of the reason why TRM will not accommodate guests referred from WINZ or MSD (Ministry of Social Development). TRM have more respect for our friends and neighbours than to subject them to suffer the abuse and violence seen in other locations where motels have accepted MSD “Clients”.
Previously TRM’s ancient management has been criticised for not welcoming more homeless guests, particularly as they know we have five larger-than-usual family units that are set up for long-term tenancies by anglers – equipped with full-sized ovens, fridge freezer units, even pantries.
As you might expect, I have (again!) been accused of being culturally insensitive when applications for emergency housing are rejected by our management policy. TRM has also been accused of being anti-iwi and anti-Tuwharetoa, so you have been warned. Oh dear…
Perhaps the easiest way to explain is to provide examples of why TRM does not take bookings for emergency housing. The following are three brief case histories of housing guests referred from WINZ. i.e. TRM applied “three strikes and you’re out” as a management policy.
CASE 1 The local tourist information office (iSite) phoned asking if we had a studio unit for a single lady for one week. It was during a quiet period so we confirmed, reduced the room rate from $115 to $100/night and moved her into a much larger one-bedroom unit that could sleep four. She arrived – no problem. Then the rest of her family arrived and moved in, accompanied by two big aggressive pig dogs. Then they wouldn’t leave. That abused the terms of our deal so we complained, to no avail. I then made an appointment for an interview with WINZ. After being kept waiting for two hours the manager finally agreed to meet me. She claimed they were not her clients as they had booked through the iSite! I suggested they were still WINZ clients. When I pointed my finger to emphasise my opinion she immediately used that to accuse me of assault! Two guards waiting in anticipation were summoned and I was escorted out. (Quite unbelievable for this old man… for once I was speechless!)
CASE 2 This young man should never have been left on his own anywhere. He had a mental age of about ten. He was provided with a weekly allowance for provisions but it was all spent on beer and chocolates. But his most memorable act was to entertain other inmates with his preaching style. Early every day he would stand outside his unit addressing the world, loudly shouting about the evils of white colonisation and other such drivel. Even the residents across the road complained. TRM tried to move all adjacent guests to other units beyond his vocal range. We persuaded him to transfer his daily crusade up to the top of the hill above the Tongariro River so the rest of Turangi might benefit from his sermons. Our concerns for his welfare were reported to his case manager or carer, but after a week with us he was moved on to another tourist accommodation complex. He desperately needed medical help and really should have been in an intensive care facility.
CASE 3 This “lady” (?) was supposed to be on her own but late most nights received visitors sporting gang patches. Her young extended family also visited most days and their kids ran riot around the adjacent units. SWMBO had to shift other guests who were afraid of their cars being damaged etc. Some regular guests packed up and left. We could not blame them. They have never returned. After the lady left a large number of missing items became obvious, such as my best filleting knives that she had “borrowed”, etc.
Considering the difficult marginal economic conditions for tourist accommodation struggling during the last two years to survive Covid, some might imagine we should try harder to learn to persevere with this new homeless category? But in the interests of our survival and to preserve any remaining sanity and emotional health and to ensure our regular fishy inmates will return and particularly out of respect to protect residents along Taupahi Road, we cancelled any further cooperation with referrals from WINZ. It is a real problem when they would not take any responsibility for their “clients”. In Rotorua we understand they do acknowledge the strong likelihood of internal damage and promise to pay for any repairs etc., but not for us in Turangi.
So that is our experience in providing “emergency housing”. Following these failures we realise we may appear to be stereotyping these homeless people, but the same unfortunate pattern is evident in other similar small towns throughout NZ. We simply cannot afford to provide tourist level accommodation to people who deliberately upset other inmates and threaten to damage our accommodation and facilities and abuse the system at every opportunity. We fear for any residents living close to any motel used as such, but now fortunately for Turangi it is not an issue…
