Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan announced the formation of the inaugural Central Otago Affordable Housing Trust this week.
Mr Cadogan said he had been worried about the increasing cost of houses since before he was mayor, and he started working on the project once he was elected.
A five-member working party including himself, Central Otago District Council councillors and current and former Cromwell Community Board members was established this year, and the housing trust had arisen from that, Mr Cadogan said.
He said the "strong call" he heard from the public during last year’s local body election that the council should do something about the "perceived lack of affordable housing" in Central Otago was made "particularly loudly in Cromwell, where house, section and rental prices have continued to greatly increase since that time".
Other areas, such as Clyde and Alexandra, had seen similar issues, he said. As house and rent prices got "higher and higher", it was becoming "harder for everyone to be part of the success story that is the Central Otago economy".
"There are few things the council can do to ameliorate that, but I’m determined that we’re going to try."
The four trustees of the Central Otago Affordable Trust are former Cromwell Community Board member Glen Christiansen, Kate Scott (executive director of Landpro), Mary Flannery (solicitor at AWS Legal) and Stephen Brent (partner at Cavell Leitch lawyers and a trustee of the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust).
Mr Cadogan said the trust would find ways to work with the council and developers to ensure there was an "affordability component" to developments in the area.
"How they do that will be in the hands of the trustees, as it is now time for the mayor, council and community boards in the district to step back and allow the trust to find its own way forward".
Trust spokesman Mr Brent said the trust had two broad goals: to come up with ideas for developing affordable housing, and work out ways to implement them.
Topics to be discussed would include freeing up land for development, zoning issues and the impact of Airbnb on long-term rentals.
He said his knowledge of the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust would be valuable, and people from other sectors would be engaged and consulted.
