Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett was keen to point out the difference between social housing and affordable homes when speaking in Queenstown yesterday, after addressing the Women in Business Conference.
Her comments come after a number of Queenstown agencies expressed annoyance a Housing New Zealand house was sold at auction on Thursday, during a housing shortage in the resort, HNZ saying it could not be tenanted.
Mrs Bennett said only three people were on the waiting list for social housing in Queenstown at present.
While the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust said it had more than 300 households on its waiting list, they were "people wanting to purchase an affordable home, not those waiting for social housing''.
Asked if the Government was looking at housing generally, she said the it was "looking right across the country and can see hot spots where you can see rents increasing more than others''.
One of the biggest housing challenges in Queenstown was worker accommodation, she said.
After the conference, she had meetings planned with local businesses.
The Government was "working with employers to look at how we can start addressing some of those worker accommodation issues but we want to do it with employers. We don't think it is just a government issue,'' Mrs Bennett said.
-By Louise Scott
