Source: Radio New Zealand
Happiness House manager Léna Boss suspected the cost of living was reaching a crunch point. SUPPLIED
The proportion of Queenstown Lakes residents facing housing insecurity has doubled in the past year, a new survey shows.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council annual quality of life survey found 10 percent of Queenstown Lakes residents had to spend at least one night with friends or family, or in a car, caravan, tent, poor or overcrowded accommodation, or on the street during the past 12 months.
The situation was even more acute for those aged 18-24 with 17 percent having to rely on friends or family for temporary accommodation, ten percent having to sleep in their car, five percent sleeping in the street and five percent sleeping in a tent.
One person told the council they spent three months on the street with their cat and were declined 65 rentals.
Restaurant worker Mateo De Leon was among those who had struggled with housing in the tourist resort.
He thought he had a place to stay in Queenstown this summer, until his flat split up and the landlord pulled the rental from the market.
His backup plan – a van he moved into with his friend – broke down and the situation became even more desperate.
“Ninety percent of the hostels were fully booked out and the ones that weren’t charged like $300 per night. It was absurd. So it was definitely not an option,” De Leon said.
“We decided, the first night, to try to sleep at the restaurant we were working at but that didn’t really work out. So we ended up not sleeping that night.”
De Leon eventually went to Facebook to find urgent accommodation and ended up sleeping in a stranger’s van.
He had since left Queenstown, partly because of the high cost of living.
The previous quality of life survey found only five percent of respondents reported experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness.
Mayor John Glover said it was worrying to see housing insecurity in an otherwise “busy, thriving, prosperous district”.
“It tells me that there are some people who are doing it really hard. The levels have been varying from year to year, but I think we need to be really watchful for any emerging trends,” he said.
He suspected cost of living was a factor but he cautioned against reading too much into the numbers.
The last time 10 percent of the district reported experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness was in 2023, when there were widespread stories of accommodation shortages that prompted some workers to stage a lakeside protest.
“I’m not sensing the same chronic, absolute urgent shortage of accommodation that we had a couple of years ago when, you heard horrific stories of people having to literally, rush somewhere seconds after a listing was [put up],” Glover said.
Coalition to End Women’s Homelessness project director Victoria Crockford said she was not surprised by the reported increase in housing insecurity.
Many people were struggling to find a place to call home, Crockford said.
“I think it’s probably a symptom of an increase in cost of living pressures but also symptomatic of the fact that whilst we have an absolutely stellar record on getting houses consented in this district – and the council has done a very effective job at that – what our record is less golden on is the ability to provide the types of affordable housing that are needed across all segments of the population living here,” she said.
The private rental market was not successfully providing homes for workers and families across many income brackets, she said.
“I genuinely believe that the big gap that we’ve got is that we have failed to plan for workers’ accommodation – good quality workers’ accommodation targeted at the people who come here initially for the short term but often end up staying and actually propel our core industries and keep this town humming.”
Glover said housing affordability was a persistent challenge for the district and the council was hoping to grow the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust’s affordable rental and home ownership schemes.
“Clearly if you’re in a hospitality job, on or at or just above minimum wage, there’s some significant challenges to working out an existence here,” he said.
Crockford said women in Queenstown historically experienced higher rates of housing insecurity than men.
Homelessness and housing insecurity was often not visible on the streets, she said.
“I think that in some ways, because it is hidden, it is even more dangerous. And by dangerous, I mean it’s dangerous because we don’t think it exists and therefore we don’t have any sort of formal response to it,” Crockford said.
Happiness House manager Léna Boss said she had noticed a lot of solo parents seeking food support at the Queenstown community support centre recently.
She suspected the cost of living was reaching a crunch point.
People were often surprised to learn Queenstown had no emergency accommodation, Boss said.
Workers needed to know the true cost of living in the district before moving to the area, she said.
“It’s very hard to be able to afford a place in Queenstown, even if you’re a family. Rents are outrageous … we’re talking about a two-bedroom for $900,” she said.
“Queenstown looks so pretty on the map. It’s touristic, it’s vibrant, there’s this community that looks so amazing and all these things happening. And there’s a lot of work. But the problem is do people do their research before they come to actually find out is there not only work but can they live here? Can they afford to live here? And this is a very big challenge.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
