And news that two Housing New Zealand homes in Cromwell have been vacant for months amid the rental shortage has been greeted with disbelief by social service leaders, who say a co-ordinated approach is needed to develop more social housing in the district.
The houses are both three-bedroom homes, one in Cornish Pl, which has been vacant for about eight months, and another that has been vacant for about three months. A Housing New Zealand spokesman declined to name the location of the second home but confirmed it was also in Cromwell.
The spokesman said there was ''consistently low demand'' for social housing in Central Otago. A Ministry of Social Development spokesman said there were no people on ''priority A'' of the social housing register in Central Otago awaiting homes, and more than zero but fewer than six (the actual number being suppressed) people on priority B of the register in the district.
Priority A is people considered at risk and includes households with a severe and persistent housing need that must be addressed immediately. Priority B is people who have a ''serious'' housing need and includes households with a significant and persistent need.
As well as the two vacant Cromwell houses, there are another eight Housing New Zealand properties in Cromwell and 10 elsewhere in Central Otago, all tenanted.
Central Otago Budgeting Services office manager/co-ordinator Pam Hughes said it was ''difficult to believe'' no suitable or in-need families could be matched with the two vacant Cromwell houses. She knew of families in Cromwell who were in temporary accommodation such as camping grounds and sleepouts, and of situations where more than one family were living in the same home.
Mrs Hughes said the rental accommodation shortage in Cromwell was at ''crisis'' levels, ''but the Government won't have you believe it''.
Rental accommodation shortages were also becoming more severe in Alexandra and were already bad in Wanaka, she said.
Bess Carbines, the communities ministries co-ordinator for Salvation Army Alexandra, which also helps families in Cromwell, said she also knew of some young people working on orchards who had lived in their cars during the summer because they could not find accommodation.
They were generally people who had arrived ''unprepared'' for how severe the accommodation shortage would be, although increased worker accommodation provided by orchardists this year had helped that situation.
The Otago Daily Times spoke to three families who were unable to find accommodation: Kym Rollo, who is living with her 3-year-old son in a room off her sister's garage; Larissa Patchett, who, along with her husband, works full-time, and is living with her three primary school-aged children in a tent in her parents' back yard; and a Cromwell man, who preferred not to be named but was working full-time and living with his 16-year-old son in a caravan in a camping ground.
All three were unable to find accommodation and said they had witnessed ''bidding wars'' for rental properties in Cromwell, where a landlord would raise the asking price of a rental property, sometimes after being offered more by a prospective tenant.
''I've seen rents get put up by another $100 when there was a lot of interest in a property,'' Mrs Patchett said. ''People [landlords] are just getting greedy. It's too expensive to live here now. It's just getting ridiculous.''
Dozens of prospective tenants were ''chasing'' each property, and rents for a basic three-bedroom home started at about $400, Mrs Patchett said.
L J Hooker sales consultant Marie Kahukura said there were many families ''desperate'' for rental accommodation and the shortage was hitting ''crisis stage''.
She had not heard of specific bidding wars, but said she could ''imagine'' that happening with some private landlords. That situation did not occur with any L J Hooker properties, she said.
She confirmed at least 20 people were usually competing for any rental properties listed, and said families with young children were being hit particularly hard, as they could often not manage the extra $50 a week it might take to secure a tenancy.
Cairnmuir Camping Ground manager Martine McDowell said she had about 15 people or couples living semi-permanently at her Bannockburn camping ground because they could not find other accommodation.
''They are mainly people who moved to the area and didn't realise how crazy it [the rental shortage] would be. It's pretty bad.''
