5. Question No. 5—HousingTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour) to the Minister of HousingQuestion No. 5—Housing5. TĀMATI COFFEY (Labour) to the Minister of Housing: What recent announcements has the Government made about responding to housing need in Rotorua?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS (Minister of Housing): Last week the Minister for Social Development and Employment and I announced a plan to shift the way in which emergency housing is provided in Rotorua. Along with the Associate Minister of Housing with responsibility for homelessness we've worked alongside council iwi and NGOs to develop solutions that will provide better support and outcomes for people living in emergency motels and the community. We are signalling a shift from the model that was introduced under the previous Government by directly contracting motels for emergency accommodation and boosting the support services. Alongside these measures we're continuing to address the need for more permanent accommodation with our published plans to deliver 190 additional public houses in Rotorua by 2024. We are also working alongside locals to identify further land options for additional public and transitional places.Tāmati Coffey: What are the benefits to contracting motels?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: By contracting motels we can ensuring families with children have accommodation—[Interruption]SPEAKER: Order! Order! It's very early in what is going to be a very long week and I think people just need to show a bit of respect so that we can hear the answers.Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Thank you Mr Speaker. By contracting motels we can ensure families with children have accommodation separate from other groups that is better suited to their needs. Contracting these motels also means more intensive wraparound support service can be delivered and bring certainty to the Rotorua accommodation sector by having motels used exclusively for emergency housing motels.Tāmati Coffey: Why is it important to provide emergency accommodation?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: Because we will not accept people living on the street or children living in cars. While we do not see motels as a long-term solution for housing we need to deal with the immediate crisis that has built up over the last decade. Over the coming months we'll be working to roll out the model across the country. We're looking at how it is working in Rotorua and we will take a place-based approach to ensure that we get the right support in place that reflects local needs.Nicola Willis: Can she confirm she received advice from her housing officials more than a year ago warning that emergency housing in Rotorua was creating risks to public safety and not providing people enough support; and if so why has it taken her so long to do anything about it?Hon Dr MEGAN WOODS: The issue that the member raises relates to the use of a night shelter in Rotorua which subsequently ceased operation alongside two other shelters at the beginning of April 2020 when Visions of a Helping Hand moved into the COVID emergency response motel space. I note that the three people previously supported by this site and the two other shelters were relocated to COVID-19 motels.Nicola Willis: Point of order Mr Speaker. I seek leave to table a document not previously available to this House that states that The concentration of some lower-end emergency housing motels"—SPEAKER: Order! Order! The member describes a document; she doesn't read it out. Where it comes from the date and its title and that's all.Nicola Willis: The document was provided to the Minister of Housing by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development on 13 March 2020 and refers to emergency housing motels in Rotorua.SPEAKER: Is there any objection to that document being tabled? There appears to be none. It will be tabled.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House."