Christine Larsen says she is not a freedom camper or homeless person, she is a Kawerau resident whose home just happens to be on wheels.
Larsen bought her motorhome a year ago, when the house she was renting was put on the market and she had been unable to find a rental.
“I had enough money to buy a motorhome. It’s an older one and I live in it permanently.”
While she considered herself fortunate to have friends who let her park on their section in a pinch, and stayed at caravan parks occasionally “as a treat”, she mostly stayed in freedom camping sites.
She said there were many people living in the “limbo land” between homeless and tourists. “I would say that on any given day, in any freedom camping area, over 50% and often 100% of the people parked there are living permanently in their vehicles,” she said.
“The vehicles can be motorhomes or cars. I’ve met pensioners in their 70s and 80s who come from Auckland or Tauranga and Katikati.
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“They can’t afford their rates, and their insurance, because they still had mortgages on their homes, so they’ve bought caravans or motorhomes.”
Larsen spoke on her submission to Kawerau District Council’s updates to its Freedom Camping Bylaw recently. She explained that she had lived in the town for seven years.
“I consider Kawerau my home. My church is here, my friends are here, my doctor is here and I volunteer here.”
Living in a motorhome had opened her eyes to the plight of many people.
“I’ve travelled a little bit around the North Island and the majority of people I’ve met are really struggling and they need somewhere secure to live in a community so they can access social services and health services and maintain links with family.”
The Freedom Camping Act, which councils need to consider in relation to their bylaws, stipulates that homeless people cannot be fined or moved on from freedom camping sites.
However, there were questions around whether people living in legally compliant self-contained vehicles fell into this category. Larsen said the Freedom Camping Act didn’t take people who lived permanently in motorhomes into account.
“Am I a freedom camper or am I homeless?” she asked.
“I’m neither of those things. I’m a Kawerau resident living in a home on wheels. I’d like to continue to be part of this community.
“This is not a time for really punitive and restrictive bylaws being applied to those who are living as best we can in our vehicles.”
She recommended the council look into opening a low-cost secure facility for people like herself, similar to the KiwiCamp site at National Park.
“I would be happy to pay $10 to $20 a night for something like that. We need a safe, secure, semi-permanent place to park our home.”
Regulatory and planning group manager Michaela Glaspey said there was work being done by council around different options for a pay and use process for freedom campers but it was still under way.”
The council received 21 submissions for and against proposed changes to its Freedom Camping Bylaw, though only Larsen spoke at the hearing.
Key changes to the draft bylaw include closing up a loophole in the maximum of seven consecutive nights so people can’t stay longer even if their stay crosses over two months.
It also reduces areas where people can stay at current freedom camping sites at Prideaux Park, Maurie Kjar Aquatic Centre and Firmin Lodge.
Stoneham Park, which is being developed for housing, will no longer allow freedom camping, and Boyce Park, Waterhouse Street Reserve and grassed areas of Firmin Field, will only be available by obtaining prior consent.
Councillor Berice Julian said the world had moved on since the freedom camping bylaw came about.
“We were looking at the young, international visitor, and to give authorities some sort of control. Perhaps this is something we can take up with the motorhome (organisation) and with our local MPs.”
Mayor Faylene Tunui agreed that the bylaw was never written with the intention of addressing homelessness.
“Perhaps a decades-long lack of investment in that space has now got us to a situation where we are not temporarily visiting or camping. This is now, for a range of reasons often beyond our choice, becoming a permanent way of living.”
The council will deliberate on the bylaw on October 16.
Meanwhile, Whakatane District Council will hear submissions on its own Freedom Camping Bylaw update at its Living Together committee meeting on Thursday.
Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.