Central Otago's rental accommodation shortage is the worst it has ever been as rents reach record highs and people continue to live in camping grounds and unsuitable accommodation, social service agencies and community leaders say.
The trend has reached "critical" levels and many people were living in caravans or tents, "couch surfing", moving in with family members, boarding or living in their car because they could not afford to rent homes, those at the coal face said.
Many people have also been forced to leave Central Otago because they cannot afford accommodation in the district.
Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan has spoken out again about the issue, saying "I fear that there are some in our community who do not realise just how hard it is for others around them".
He last week included in a report to a Central Otago District Council meeting a list of 25 examples provided to him by social service agencies of people who were struggling to put a roof over their head.
But Family Works Central Otago (Presbyterian Support Otago) team leader Stewart Hawkins said "those [examples] are just the ones we know about. There are others that will be flying beneath the radar".
Central Otago Budgeting Service office manager Pam Hughes said the rental accommodation shortage in Central Otago was the worst it had been.
Mrs Hughes, Mr Hawkins and Alexandra Council of Social Services chairwoman Jill Tosswill want to see more social housing built and for landlords to "have a social conscience" and not set rents at the top of market levels. Central Otago rents were now the highest they had ever been, they said.
Harcourts Highland Group Cromwell and Alexandra manager John Petre said rents for a a three-bedroom ex-Ministry of Works house in Cromwell now started at about $420 a week. Rents for a standard three-bedroom house in Alexandra started at about $380, and in Roxburgh were about $300.
He said it was unfair to blame landlords for high rents. First-time landlords and "mum and dad" investors, in particular, depended on rents to pay mortgages.
Mr Petre said the shortage of rental properties was the worst he had seen and was "not going to change any time soon".
Central Otago continued to be a growth area and the expansion of Queenstown and Wanaka also meant many people were living in Central Otago and commuting to Queenstown and Wanaka.
Mrs Hughes knew of people living in Roxburgh or Omakau who commuted to Queenstown.
Those in the social service and real estate sectors also said changes to legislation for landlords that set new standards for rental properties, and possible changes to capital gains tax legislation, were contributing to the rental shortage, by creating uncertainty among landlords.
