Motel fire standards still not upgraded, despite Cabinet promise

Thousands of people in emergency housing motels are without fire safety protections specific to the higher-than-usual risks of their situations, despite Cabinet promising six months ago to set quality standards at motels.

The government agreed last December to introduce the first-ever standards for quality of all kinds, after officials advised they lacked "any formal power" to tell moteliers what to do.

"There has been no regulation over the quality," the Housing Ministry (HUD) said, urging a full redesign of the $400 million emergency housing system.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) told RNZ "work is underway on a code of standards".

The need is clear on the fire front: Motel inspections have found serious fire safety breaches, and documents show residents have laid fire safety complaints with MSD, while agencies have acknowledged emergency housing poses high and unusual risks for people's overall welfare.

Despite this, there were no specific fire regulations for emergency housing despite the explosion in numbers using it, from 750 in 2016 to 6200 at its peak in 2021.

Also, not a single motel nationwide has had to seek a 'change of use' consent before tapping into the government grants, authorities said.

Rotorua Lakes Council was challenging that lack of power over motels, asking the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) for a special ruling.

But 18 months after asking - and a ruling, by law, should take less than three months to issue - the council was still waiting. MBIE said it had a lot of demands on it.

If the council could insist on 'change of use' consents, "then the upgrade provisions of the Building Act may result in an upgrade to existing warning systems to provide early warning in case of fire", Rotorua Lakes told MBIE.

One example where this might have applied was at Four Canoes, a local hotel owned by a large chain, but converted to house high-risk, high-need residents long-term. FENZ said Four Canoes should be sprinklered - but neither it or the council had the power to make that happen.

'Wake-up call'

Community Law Aotearoa said the government was being far too slow to address the right of residents to be safe.

"The Loafers Lodge fire is a serious wake-up call for the government," said chief executive Sue Moroney.

"Even though in that situation that was a private boarding house, the same set of circumstances apply for emergency housing, and the government have not got this right."

However, the new code of standards was "a significant turning point" for MSD, because it would apply to all the motels - not just the few with a government contract, she said.

The vast bulk of emergency housing motels do not have such a contract. Only 297 motel units do have one, while almost 4000 households are getting an emergency housing special needs grant (EH-SNG).

The government told RNZ the "existing frameworks" for building safety were the right way of dealing with fire risks at emergency housing.

"There are no specific regulations just for building safety in emergency housing," said Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan.

"I have not given any specific direction to officials as fire safety for buildings is not emergency-housing specific and is most appropriately addressed using the existing frameworks for building safety."

At the same time, the government has noted "there are safety, security and quality challenges" with providing the housing.

The "existing frameworks" included councils, MBIE and FENZ, said MSD.

But FENZ and council oversight was patchy and they lacked power - in some cases they could not even require that each motel room has a smoke alarm - and MBIE was remote from the front line.

The frameworks themselves encompass the regulations that are now under review following the fatal Loafers Lodge fire.

No 'formal power'

The government since 2016 has handed out millions of dollars in grants to motels without specifying quality standards they must hit.

"MSD cannot formally direct people away from particular motels, which can result in concentrations of high needs or particular cohorts in individual motels or locations," officials told Cabinet in December.

"MSD also does not have any formal power to stop using a particular supplier or to get them to comply with our expectations."

MSD said in December it would set up a way to assess motels for the first time. There was no sign of that yet.

"This work is proceeding within expected timeframes, including in relation to proposed operational changes," it told RNZ yesterday.

MSD and MHUD aimed to pick up on lessons from a Rotorua pilot, where 13 motels got a contract that set higher standards, to apply these to emergency housing in Wellington and Hamilton.

Emergency housing numbers were down from a peak of 6200 households, including 4500 children, in late 2021, but "large numbers" were expected to need to stay for months at a time in motels, for several more years.

Māori comprised 60 percent of residents, and most were women under 40. The average stay was five to six months.

Moroney of Community Law said for the government to rely on building regulations, that only stipulated fire exits and evacuation schemes at the motels, was not good enough in these "precarious" situations, such as where unsafe cooking could go on.

"It's a very tough call for a government to make that they would rather place people in ... situations that could be unsafe, then afford them that protection," she said.

Housing Minister Megan Woods, asked by RNZ if she ever directed officials to ascertain the level of fire protection in emergency housing and if it should be increased, gave a one-line statement: "I did not need to give direction to officials as since 2019, HUD has required all motels they contract including transitional housing, Covid and contracted emergency housing motels to have a sealed smoke alarm installed in each unit and for these to be tested regularly to ensure they work."

RNZ later clarified this alarm rule, for emergency housing, applied only at the 297 motel rooms at the 13 Rotorua motels contracted under the pilot last year.

FENZ reports showed some motels have been found with smoke alarms missing. Firefighters told RNZ they know of three motels in Bay of Plenty that, when residents set off the alarms while cooking, simply left them turned off to avoid having to pay a contractor to come and turn them back on.