On Thursday, Housing Minister Chris Bishop, Southland MP Joseph Mooney, Queenstown Lakes Mayor Glyn Lewers and Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust chief executive Julie Scott officially opened the first six homes in Arrowtown’s Tewa Banks, the trust’s biggest project to date.
The Jopp St development will eventually comprise 68 homes, a mix of affordable rentals, rent-to-buy and secure homes.
The first six one-bedroom properties, which have been completed, will be occupied by seniors on the government’s public housing register, while the other nine in stage one are a mix of two and three-bedroom homes, to be finished by February.
Being constructed in four stages, and expected to be complete in two years’ time, Tewa Banks was made possible when the Queenstown Lakes District Council sold the 3.8ha site, worth about $10 million, to the trust for $1 in 2022.
Ms Scott said while this was not her first "rodeo", it was the most lengthy and challenging one she had been part of.
"It looks like we’ve held on for eight seconds and it’s now what we call a success story."
She paid tribute to the current and previous council, under former mayor Jim Boult and former district councillor John MacDonald, who was "a huge advocate for affordable housing in this district".
To honour him, Tewa Banks has a street called John Macs Way.
However, the Arrowtown development was "not without pushback from certain public factions", she said.
"We’re extremely grateful to the various community organisations in Arrowtown who have supported us and publicly spoken up for us ... you’ve made our ride a little easier and smoother by supporting us."
She was particularly grateful to the support from central government, which enabled the trust to build five-star affordable housing — but the need was still great.
To date, the trust had built 180 homes.
As of Thursday, it had about 1350 households on its waiting list.
Trust chairman Richard Thomas said that equated to about 3500 people, which was about 7% of the district’s resident population.
"So housing developments like this are really needed," he said.
Mr Lewers said the development was a great example of a community working in partnership with the government to provide better outcomes and create community assets.
"Julie was saying that there’s always a little bit of pushback when you try to show vision and actually try to produce a project that you know brings social good.
"We have growth challenges here, but they are just massive opportunities, and examples like this show what those opportunities can deliver."
Mr Bishop said he appreciated the partnership between the council and the housing trust, and the mixed nature of the development.
"This is not just social housing ... it’s a mixed-tenure community and it’s integrated into the rest of the community as well.
Mr Bishop said Queenstown and the surrounding area was at "the sharp end" of the housing crisis, and called for a sustained effort and collaboration between all sectors to help solve it.
He believed housing was "at the centre of everything", enabling people to put down roots in a community, providing social stability for children and adding to productivity.
Ms Scott said the trust had another six developments in various stages, including feasibility and design.
