The Ministry of Social Development says if emergency housing clients have to move, it helps them cover related costs.
Much of Dunedin's accommodation is full this weekend with events such as the Big Sing, Dunedin Marathon and Otago Indoor Open tennis.
Otago Motel Association president and Palms Motel owner Alex Greenan said he was booked out on Saturday and many others in the city were full or close to it.
"Which is a fantastic thing to happen in the middle of winter. You don't want that when there's a concert on.
It was unusual for the time of year, he said.
"It's been a quieter winter, down 3.5% on last year in Dunedin."
This could be because of Airbnb properties or tourism being down nationally.
Dunedin welfare advocate Guy McCallum said he was at the South Dunedin Work and Income office this week, helping a family with emergency housing needs.
"The case worker we were with nearly went through their entire list of accommodation providers without finding any vacancies."
The case worker said an event attracted many overnight visitors and the ministry did not know if it would have enough motels to place emergency
housing tenants.
It indicated it was common to "turf out" the tenants during an event, he said.
The ministry did not directly answer when asked if clients would be moved out of motels this weekend.
Ministry acting regional director Teesh Payn said as far as it was aware, everyone who requested urgent housing help in Dunedin this weekend had somewhere "warm, safe and dry to stay".
"Regional events do put pressure on the supply of emergency housing.
"We plan well in advance, so that we can work around motels being booked out ahead of time by holiday-makers."
If clients in emergency housing had to move, MSD would cover related costs.
"Winter is a particularly challenging time for people without secure housing and across the country, the number of people we're helping ... is continuing to rise."
