Queenstown Lakes District councillors voted yesterday to include Wanaka in the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act and to make at least 10% of the new houses built under the Act affordable.
Before now, the council and the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust had negotiated with developers and landowners using special housing areas to make at least 5% of the new homes in their developments affordable.
Deputy mayor Calum MacLeod pushed for the increase to 10% and was backed by his fellow Wanaka ward councillors Quentin Smith and Ross McRobie. The previous level of 5% was "shooting well below the mark" and did had not made enough of a difference, Cr MacLeod said.
An average three-bedroom house in Albert Town now cost between $800,000 and $1million, which meant a large sector of the community was excluded from the housing market.
"This is not just about hospitality staff, it’s about teachers who are teaching our kids and nurses looking after our elderly.
"These are also the builders we need to keep our economy growing and strong."
Councillor Val Miller agreed with Cr MacLeod and said the community wanted the council to take a lead role in the housing affordability issue and raising the contribution was one way to do that.
"We need to show we are really serious about that want to create affordable housing which stays affordable."
Mayor Jim Boult said there was no argument developers should be asked to contribute but he was not in favour of increasing the contribution. Because not all subdivisions were the same, there needed to be some flexibility in the contribution so those who genuinely wanted to build more affordable homes were not put off, he said. Council chief executive Mike Theelen recommended councillors leave the amendment on the table and consider it at the next full council meeting, so staff could provide better guidance on what was a more considered contribution. But Cr MacLeod wanted the contribution amendment added at the meeting yesterday and so did enough of his fellow councillors to pass it with a clear majority.
Glenpanel developer Kristan Stalker said it was difficult to comment having not attended the meeting, but any uplift in development contributions meant "the balance of the development has to work harder".
"That’s the commercial reality of it."
Maryhill Ltd unsuccessfully applied for the 207-lot Glenpanel Special Housing Area last year, on a 20ha site at Ladies Mile, opposite the under-construction Queenstown Country Club SHA.
If the council votes to include Ladies Mile in its special housing area lead policy at its meeting next month, that would open the door for Glenpanel to re-apply.
