27ththJan Feb--35rdthFeb Mar2014 2018 27
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No No 434 639
LAKES WEEKLY BULLETIN
1 J IN O 25 SI BS D E
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Will Special Housing Areas work in the long term? Last week, the Queenstown Lakes District Council announced that it had received an expression of interest from ‘Bright Sky’ to create a Special Housing Area (SHA) in Wanaka. SHAs were first introduced in 2013 to “facilitate an increase in land and housing supply, and improve housing affordability and suitability in the Queenstown Lakes District.” But are they serving their purpose? Since 2013, Queenstown property and rental prices have skyrocketed and housing affordability has not improved. Queenstown is the perfect hot mess of above-average rental and property prices and below-average wages. So far, seven SHAs have been approved, which should provide 1030 residential sections or units. However, only 10% need to be classified as ‘affordable’ to meet regulations and growth predictions estimate the region will need 9158 dwellings to meet demand. The Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust works hard to leverage this and assist Queenstown families, but there’s only so far this will stretch. Everyone else must sit back and hope that more houses will equate to cheaper houses… which seems like bright sky thinking to me. Queenstown has been an in-demand area to live in for decades and will surely continue to be in-demand for many more years to come. Indeed, an article in British newspaper The Guardian noted that up until recently, Queenstown and Wanaka was a hotspot for US billionaires looking to dodge a hypothetical ‘apocalypse’ (Why Silicon Valley billionaires are prepping for the apocalypse in New Zealand, 15/02/18). It seems a shame that US billionaires, some of whom have barely set foot in the country, have secured housing in central Queenstown, while those born and bred here and those who have lived, worked and contributed to the community for many years, are forced to move out. It’s a sign of global inequality, but it’s also a sign that the previous government bent over backwards to accommodate ‘special individuals’. So why can’t long-term-resident families and professionals be the new ‘special individuals’?
Organisers of the King Beats music festival, Brendan Mulcahy and Ben Macdonald put Kingston on the musical map after the close of another successful festival at the weekend
(Photo: Catherine Mercer)
Phở /Fuh/
noun 1. a magical soup made of beef, broth and rice noodle 2. heralded as the best hangover cure known to mankind ~ caveday.com
Though (obviously) it’s not Silicon Valley billionaires buying up SHA housing stock, more can be done to ensure affordable housing is available for people who will live in them – not flip them for profit a few short years later, or rent them at $400 per room to seasonal workers. Qualifying developments within SHA are required to take a “proactive approach” to housing affordability. Wanaka’s SHA developer promises small houses with solar panels to “reduce heating costs” – but is this enough to make them affordable in real terms?
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