A total of 263 submissions were received by the Queenstown Lakes District Council, which will decide today whether to give 11-21 Suffolk St to the trust.
Many submissions had comments implying if people could not afford to live in Arrowtown they should look elsewhere.
The trust's chairman, David Cole, said the negative responses demonstrated ''the rather strong passions that exist in our community''.
''But I wonder whether the degrees of concern being expressed are out of proportion to the trust's proposal.''
The Suffolk St land is owned by the council and Mr Cole was not aware of any other land which could be used for this purpose - an earlier idea to have the development in Jopp St in Arrowtown failed because the land was not included in the Arrowtown residential boundary.
Many key workers in the community were on a low income and struggling to buy a home in the district, he said.
At present, derelict rental cabins scheduled for removal later this year sit on 11-21 Suffolk St and Mr Cole said the trust was proposing ''more permanent housing for more permanent residents''.
A concern of some submitters was the loss of the Arrowtown Rugby Club clubrooms, but Mr Cole told the Otago Daily Times last week the trust would work with a community group which has consent to build a community sports facility on adjoining Jack Reid Park for groups such as the rugby club.
''The reality is that there have been some well-thought-out positive submissions that have been put forward to council,'' Mr Cole said.
However, the trust has so far faced an uphill battle, some residents expressing views such as ''your public housing needs to be under the power lines'' at a vocal information evening recently and a sizeable number of submissions opposing the development in Suffolk St.
Today, at the council's full meeting, councillors will decide whether to grant the land to the trust for the purpose of affordable housing.
