The council has proposed giving the Central Otago Affordable Housing Trust $50,000 in year one of the council’s 2018-28 Long Term Plan to fund a housing needs assessment.
Trust spokesman Stephen Brent said the money was needed for the trust to begin its work.
The trust was formed in October 2017, following a strong push from Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan.
Mr Cadogan said he had been worried about the increasing cost of houses since before he was mayor and he started working on the project once he was elected.
A five-member working party including him, district councillors and current and former Cromwell Community Board members was established last year and the housing trust arose from that, Mr Cadogan said.
He heard a "strong call" from the public during the 2016 local body election the council should do something about the "perceived lack of affordable housing" in Central Otago, particularly in Cromwell, but also in Clyde and Alexandra.
Mr Cadogan said last year the trust would find ways to work with the council and developers to ensure there was an "affordability component" to developments in the area, but this week he would not be pinned down on whether it was the council’s role to provide affordable housing.
However, he said "if there is an affordable housing crisis now or looming, the question the council has to ask is this: if council isn’t going to have discussions with the [affordable housing trust] to find ways to alleviate some of that [housing] crisis, then who is?"
The four trustees of the Central Otago Affordable Trust are Mr Brent (partner at Cavell Leitch lawyers and a trustee of the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust), former Cromwell Community Board member Glen Christiansen, Kate Scott (executive director of Landpro) and Mary Flannery (solicitor at AWS Legal).
Mr Brent said it was vital a scoping exercise was done to assess what, if any, need for affordable housing there was in Central Otago, as feedback of a housing crisis in the district was so far anecdotal only, and documented evidence would be required before exploring potential solutions.
If the council funding was approved, a consultant was likely to be employed to do the needs assessment, and the assessment should be completed this calendar year.
The council’s Long Term Plan consultation document says the assessment would evaluate the affordability of rentals and houses in Central Otago, particularly for low-income households, measuring this against the Government’s indicator based on the proportion of households spending more than 30% of their disposable income on housing.
Should the assessment determine Central Otago had an affordability issue, or was likely to in the near future, the council would need to decide how it might address the issue and consult with its community through a future annual plan process, the document said.
Mr Cadogan said Central Otago’s soaring property prices were already affecting various sectors, such as young families, single parents or those affected by marriage breakups.
"It concerns me there are sectors of our society in parts of our district where the ability to get a foot on the property ladder is slipping away, and as a consequence we will lose the egalitarian nature of our community that I believe is something we’ve always treasured. If we’re not careful we’re [Central Otago] going to become a town or a society of affluent people, and we don’t want that. We need a mix. There needs to be something for everyone."
