New data reluctantly released by Police shows a "crime explosion" at Rotorua emergency housing motels, though the Mayor says the situation is improving.
Police cited privacy reasons and commercial interests as to why they wouldn't release the crime data, but 18 months after Stuff requested it the Ombudsman ruled police must.
In 2016 police received 46 call-outs. In 2020, the number grew to 259; then, in 2021, police call-outs shot up to a staggering 491 - a 967 percent increase from 2016 to 2021.
On Monday, Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell told AM it's not the data that's surprising, but the withholding of official information, which she says is not just a "police issue" but one with "various Government agencies".
"We've seen this with a lot of requests that we've had to seek information on these motels to fully understand… but also to get the evidence of what the Rotorua community was feeling, seeing and hearing about the social disaster of these motels," Tapsell told AM's Laura Tupou.
Tapsell said she's seen a map of crime hotspots in Rotorua which showed a "crime explosion since the motels have been established".
The Mayor told AM her experience with the slow release of data is getting in the way of "putting solution['s] in [place] to make it better for our community and for those in the motel".
"This is not acceptable to withhold information for that long. I appreciate the privacy and also commercial sensitivity reasons. But we need to be transparent."
Tapsell said Rotorua's social issues need to stop being swept "underneath the carpet where we think they'll go away. But actually, they just get worse."
Though crime data did not highlight 2022 or 2023, Tapsell told AM her community is doing "significantly better" now than it was in 2021.
"We have reduced those motels and the households in there have cut by at least half. Now, this hasn't been an easy fit."
Tapsell said the number of emergency housing motels has dropped from 29 to 11, and while they have "cleaned themselves up" the job is still not done.
However, the Rotorua Temporary Housing Dashboard shows there is a total of 45 accommodation providers still offering emergency housing.
Tapsell later clarified with Newshub that the drop in emergency housing motels she referred to was in those used by Ministry of Social Development clients on Emergency Housing Special Needs Grants.
"We need to ensure that we're doing better not only for the people in our community but the people who have to be in the motels," Tapsell said.
"That's the core issue here because we're talking about safety, not just about call-outs. Every one of those call-outs meant it's somebody in that motel was not in a safe situation."
Watch the interview above
