Four months of planning between interest groups has marked Rotorua as an urgent case to deal with homelessness in the city.

Minister for Housing and Urban Development Megan Woods says a government announcement signified the seriousness of problems of homelessness not only in Rotorua, but also in the rest of the country.

Megan's comments come from a meeting last night, where she was speaking to various interest and support groups inside Tangatarua marae - Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, along with Te Arawa elders.

The trio of the government, the Rotorua Lakes Council and iwi were in one accord over an urgent need for housing in what is termed 'place-based assessment”.

The news was delivered in a busy day for government ministers, for the last of Rotorua's 14 lakes, Lake Okaro, formerly tied to the Rotorua council for 100 years, was returned to Te Arawa in a separate ceremony at Ohinemutu.

Megan Woods walks with Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick on to Tangatarua marae.

While Megan couldn't say how much finance is being set aside for the homelessness project, she acknowledges it's part of $175million package announce earlier by the government.

It's now the responsibility of local groups to look for and decide which areas would be suitable for new housing development.

'There is so much to do,” Megan says, adding she is pleased she has the right group to make progress 'on improving Rotorua's housing”.

So far, land has not been determined but to reach this point after four months of negotiation represented a giant step in political terms, which the Minister freely acknowledged.

The need for transitional housing is urgent. While serious – and Kuirau Park was cited as an example of temporary digs – Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick says some preferred living on the streets.

Land is a critical component of what is needed, says Megan, and 'that isn't as easy as it should be – I'm one of the key pieces of work that needs for that to happen…”

Designations for rezoning needed to be changed, says Steve. But Wednesday's announcement is a key change and lever to allow that to happen.

'I want to see us getting a real clear plan,” says Megan, when asked about how much of the $175m had been allocated for the Rotorua project.

'I want to see how we can continue to deliver the momentum around public housing in Rotorua; we've delivered 40 to this area since we've been in government.”

She says cities across the world are looking at the problem. 'New Zealand is not alone; Rotorua is not alone”.

She says while the country had the homelessness living in motels and other accommodation 'that is not acceptable to our government”.

Kaumatua Ken Kennedy says a few words from the lectern, behind him are Sir Toby Curtis, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, Waiariki MP Tamati Coffey (partly obscured), deputy mayor Dave Donaldson, council chief executive officer Geoff Williams and elder Geoff Rolleston.

Earlier, Te Arawa Lakes Trust chairman Tā (Sir) Toby Curtis acknowledged this is the first time the government had reached out to address the concerns of local iwi.

Sir Toby reassessed a speech, thanking the Minister and asked if his thanks can be passed on to the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

'Why do I say that? Since you've been in power, we've had a number of discussions with various ministers and ministries.

'And when you come to talk to us, the Minister comes plus the top echelon of the ministry.

'We've never had the wonderful opportunity of explaining what we want as an iwi – and then to see it materialise when things happened such as today….”

Sir Toby says with the return of Lake Okaro, Te Arawa had to continue its relationship 'with everyone living in our district”.

He says the government had made everyone and iwi how to work differently from the way 'we used to work as an iwi”.