Queenstown Lakes District Council would like to hear from landowners and the wider Queenstown community about possible ways to help address the shortage of affordable, good quality housing in the Wakatipu Basin.

This is the first step towards implementing the Queenstown Lakes District Housing Accord, signed by Mayor Vanessa van Uden and Dr Nick Smith last month, which addresses the well documented affordability problem in the district. 

“The main tool that came out of the Housing Accord is the creation of Special Housing Areas,” Mayor van Uden said. “We’ve taken the first step of adopting a policy to help us assess potential special housing areas and now we’d like to hear from landowners who have land in the Wakatipu basin that may be suitable for this use. 

While introducing special housing areas will be an important component of improving the housing affordability issue in the area, it won’t address the complete picture and other approaches to the housing problem will be needed. 

“We’d also like to hear from the wider community about some of the more general housing issues we’re facing as a district.  In particular we’d like to hear ideas for possible approaches we should consider as part of our District Plan review to ensure our current and future housing needs are met,” she said.

Criteria for expressions of interest can be found at www.qldc.govt.nz/your-council/formal-processes/tenders/special-housing-areas/

Expressions of interest and general feedback should be emailed to housing@qldc.govt.nz by Friday 5 December, 5pm.