Mayor Tory Whanau says she supports the findings of the report released today following MBIE’s national audit of safety issues with multi-storey boarding houses following last year’s tragic Loafers Lodge fire, in which five people died.

Mayor Whanau says she has spoken today with Wellington City Council’s senior Building Control and Compliance managers.

“Firstly, I want to acknowledge the victims of this tragedy. They were loved members of our community in Pōneke.

“Wellington City Council supports the findings and recommendations of this report. The MBIE audits of boarding houses in Wellington have highlighted similar issues that our staff had already identified when I asked for an urgent audit of 25 buildings providing residential accommodation in the weeks after fire last May.

“Wellington City Council takes our regulatory role in the city very seriously. In the wake of the Loafers Lodge tragedy, we have increased our staffing for building compliance and been proactive in working with boarding house owners.

“Often these boarding houses are home to amongst the most vulnerable and marginalised members of our Wellington community, we need to do all that we can to make sure they are safe.”

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