Upper Clutha's housing stock is expected to grow by 5000 in the next 30 years, and the Council wants to extend its policies to the area to help with that growth.
Councillors will tomorrow vote on a staff recommendation the Wanaka ward be included in the Housing Accord and Special Housing Areas Act.
Special housing areas (SHA) and housing accords were established in 2013 by the Government and the council to help enhance housing affordability and aid in land and housing supply.
One of the ways this is achieved is by speeding up the process under the Resource Management Act.
Queenstown Lakes deputy mayor Calum Macleod said it was great news Wanaka would be included, but it was only one tool in addressing the housing issues.
``We're going to double in size and the report alludes to the fact there are two major players who take up about half of that so this hopefully will encourage others to come on board quicker.''
Nearly half of the capacity within the town's urban growth boundary was accounted for in the Northlake and Three Parks developments.
Cr Macleod said it was positive almost all of growth could take place inside the urban boundary.
``That means we can avoid some of the big green field developments like they have over the hill and build a well thought out compact town that works for everyone.''
In her report to councillors, QLDC senior policy planner Anita Vanstone said while both Queenstown and Wanaka had similar problems with accommodation for seasonal and short-term workers, families and permanent residents, there were differences.
Significant in Wanaka was the number of unoccupied houses, about 33%. That meant a ``considerable'' amount of residential land was taken up by temporary non-residents.
The number of houses was expected to increase to about 11,300 by 2048 up from 6400 in 2015.
Only about 520 of those would be within the medium and high density zones of the council's proposed district plan.
But the SHA process would allow more medium and high density residential developments, and at a much quicker rate than under the proposed district plan.
So far eight SHAs had been established in the Wakatipu basin. Only one, Bridesdale, had been completed, but it was still unoccupied.
A Mountain Scene analysis of ownership at Bridesdale revealed fewer than 30% of the owners were first-home buyers or did not own property elsewhere.
A full meeting of the Queenstown Lakes District Council will be held at the Lake Wanaka Centre at 1pm on Thursday.
