Speaking to Queenstown Lakes District councillors at their full meeting in Queenstown, David Cole said the trust was in a ''very healthy state''.
It had a good balance sheet and more than $10million in net assets.
To date it had helped almost 100 households in the district, but he acknowledged the trust needed to lift its performance ''considerably'' to help address issues with affordability.
Part of that would be a change of strategic direction, focusing more on providing rental and potentially worker accommodation.
''When the trust was first set up ... the thrust was to help home buyers into houses.''
It had since built 27 homes in the Lake Hayes Estate; four had been completed in Suffolk St, Arrowtown, with the remaining six to be finished by Christmas; and construction of 44 houses at Shotover Country would start in December.
Some of those properties were in the ''rent saver'' programme - designed as a stepping-stone to home ownership - while others were in the shared ownership programme.
Mr Cole told yesterday's council meeting while the trust had helped almost 100 households, there were still 300 on its waiting list who met criteria.
''How do we [help] those people? We also see ... a significant shortfall of affordable rentals that will [on construction] become a long-term asset for the community.''
The rental shortage in Queenstown had been well documented, particularly during this winter.
It had driven the price of rental accommodation up, caused overcrowding and forced some to live in caravans or cars, while others left the district.
''We do have [ideas] about the need for us to make some sort of ... investment in worker accommodation.
''I think there is a need ... for supporting the transient workers that come to town, who often ... can crowd into an Invercargill-owned house ... and get a tenure for 11 months of the year because the owners want to come up and spend summer here.''
If the trust could provide rental accommodation, it would create a secure tenure in appropriate accommodation at an affordable level.
It would require putting ''a bit more equity'' into each of the properties and support from funding bodies, like community trusts.
Cr Mel Gazzard asked whether the trust had engaged with employers about providing worker accommodation and whether the trust could find ways to work with them.
Mr Cole said a series of ''employer forums'' were held several years ago but ''we got very poor attendance''.
Cr Gazzard replied given the amount of work available in the resort and the difficulty some employers had retaining staff ''that may now not be the case''.
At yesterday's meeting, the trust and the council also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to clarify their respective roles, formalising an existing arrangement.
The MOU sought to grant the trust up to $50,000 per annum for the next five years, or until other agreements had been negotiated.
It also said council support might be necessary for the trust's activities and the council would ''give favourable consideration to proposals from the trust'', provided it was willing to indemnify the council in respect of its exposure.
With respect to council-owned land, the MOU said where a transfer of land between the two parties occurred, the council would consider a transfer at nil value, provided it was satisfied the land would be used for affordable housing, not sold for a capital gain.
Lakes Community Housing Trust
• Builds houses and helps home buyers into houses
• Built 27 homes at Lake Hayes Estate10 at Arrowtown finished by Christmas
• 44 to be built at Shotover Country in next 12 months
• Helped almost 100 households with accommodation
• 300 households on waiting list
• Wants to change focus to providing rental and worker accommodation
