A year after ministers were warned emergency housing was posing a risk to public safety in Rotorua, the government is moving to clean up the problems.
It will directly contract motels for emergency accommodation in that city, group families and children together in particular motels, and provide social support services, at a cost of around $30 million a year.
RNZ has reported stories of families living in motels overrun with crime and violence, and taxpayers paying out millions of dollars for accommodation that's often sub-standard.
But as our political editor Jane Patterson reports, there's still no word on when action will be taken in other New Zealand cities, experiencing the same problems.
