In June, the Aspiring Enliven Care Centre advertised positions for 20 care-workers needed for when the centre opens in October.
Last week, 15 of those positions were readvertised.
At full capacity, the centre will employ more than 40 people, including registered nurses and administration staff.
Enliven Wanaka manager Jacqui Boylen said the issue was not the lack of quality or experience of applicants, rather a lack of applicants.
The centre is still set to open in October despite having to readvertise the positions.
In Wanaka, the cost of living combined with the lower pay care-workers earned was probably the reason the positions had to be readvertised, Ms Boylen said.
"It’s something we are used to. It’s always hard to find age-care workers and service staff just because their pay is at the low end of the scale."
Figures from the Service and Food Workers Union show the average hourly rate for care-workers was just above the minium wage of $15.25 an hour.
Care-workers at the two Enliven centres in Wanaka were paid closer to $16 an hour to make up for the high cost of living in the area, she said.
It was difficult for employees on higher wages to live in the area, so it was not a surprise staff on lower wages found it difficult, Ms Boylen said.
Applicants for other positions, such as registered nurses, were being interviewed and those positions would be filled soon, she said.
There was no issue with staff not being trained before October as they would be trained on the job, she said.
Staff from care home Elmslie House would cover any shortfall in the short term and both sites would share staff once the Aspiring Enliven Care Centre opened, she said.
The first stage of the Cardrona Valley Rd care centre cost $9.3million and included 20 dementia care rooms, 19 rest-home/hospital-level-care rooms and one hospice room.
It would more than double the number of beds available to the elderly who could no longer live at home in Upper Clutha.
