Wānaka demand for an affordable house has increased 56% from August 21, 2021, when the Otago Daily Times reported 150 households were on the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust’s Wānaka wait list.
The trust’s executive officer Julie Scott spoke to the demand during a public forum at the Wānaka-Upper Clutha Community Board last Thursday.
Her update to the board followed disappointment expressed earlier this month by the trust and district councillors, when the council decided to withdraw an inclusionary housing variation from the proposed district plan, on the recommendation of an independent hearing panel.
The variation would have required most new residential subdivisions and developments to make contributions of either land or money that would have been given to the trust to create more affordable housing assets and programmes.
The variation was opposed by many of the district’s developers, including Three Parks developer Allan Dippie, during a district plan hearing in February.
Mrs Scott said the trust had 50 properties in the Wānaka area under a variety of tenures and programmes, and had just finished a 28-lot affordable housing development at Universal Development’s Longview development at Lake Hāwea.
Another 38 Longview sections were in the design phase and due to roll out over the next year, Mrs Scott said.
Mt Cardrona Station was now building two affordable houses and had another six to come, while there were four houses being built at Hikuwai to add to the six already there, she said.
Work was continuing with Mr Dippie in the hope some sections at Three Park would eventuate at some stage, because the Wānaka waiting list was growing all the time, she said.
"Hopefully they will be medium density, a bit higher density than is traditional. We are big fans of density. Currently that is the only way to get the house numbers up."
Another Wānaka project was to create affordable housing for seniors.
The trust is planning to redevelop units on property it owns on McDougall St to create 12 or more homes. Public submissions have closed and a hearing will be scheduled for later this year.
Wānaka Community Board chairman Simon Telfer asked "where next in making a meaningful dent" in Wanaka’s waiting list.
Mrs Scott said the best options at the moment were at Three Parks or Orchard Rd housing developments, "unless we find a piece of land ourselves below market value".
