A new mystery model of affordable housing, incorporating both rental stock and homes for purchase, is being considered for the Queenstown Lakes district.
But exactly what it involves, other than homes medium and low-income residents can afford, will be a mystery for months to come.
The inaugural meeting of the Mayoral Housing Taskforce set up to address housing affordability in the district was held in Queenstown yesterday.
Chaired by Queenstown Lakes district councillor John MacDonald, it was attended by 16 invited members.
Afterwards, Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said the task force was ``unanimous'' in supporting ``a concept to deliver housing which would address the needs of moderate and low-income residents, including their families, without distorting or devaluing the existing market''.
``Let me state upfront that it is of primary importance that what we do does not affect the value of housing on the open market in Queenstown now. That has never been our intention.
``This is about creating an affordable housing model that works alongside the existing private and commercial ownership system.
``We have a series of outcomes which we are interested in pursuing and which we believe will create non-market affordable housing which will significantly assist affordable living in our district.''
Last week, the Otago Daily Times reported Central Otago Lakes is the least affordable region for housing in New Zealand. It is now 68% less affordable than the rest of the country, surpassing Auckland at 55%, and the median house price is almost 14 times the median annual wage.
While the task force was developing its new model with Queenstown as the focus, ``everything that we are envisaging would be replicated in Wanaka''.
Findings would be shared with the Wanaka housing working group.
The new model would include a variety of options for those wanting to buy their property, but Mr Boult said it was ``too soon'' to provide details and it may be ``months'' before more information was released.
``This is a complicated piece of work that will require long-term modelling to assess the effects, but we know what we want to achieve.''
Members of the task force were invited to participate based on their skillset, knowledge and sectors they represented.
``The group is aware of the urgency around this [and] we are all keen to see tangible outcomes.''
Mr Boult said he would not be making further public comment until material progress had been made.
