An amendment to the council's policy for considering special housing areas, made at its monthly meeting in Wanaka yesterday, requires developers to negotiate with community housing proponents on the number of allotments they allocate for affordable housing.
The amendment requires developers to enter binding agreements that ensure community housing is retained in special housing areas in the long term, whether as freehold or rental properties, and also prohibits houses within special housing areas being used for short-term rental or visitor accommodation.
Speaking at the public forum before the amendment was approved, Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust executive officer Julie Scott said it welcomed the policy change.
However, the trust urged the council to replicate the Auckland Housing Accord and require developers to set aside a specific percentage of their subdivisions as affordable housing.
Ms Scott chided councillors for having already recommended Housing Minister Nick Smith declare Bridesdale Farm - a fast-tracked subdivision near Lake Hayes - a special housing area despite it having no affordable housing component.
None of the 270 eligible households on the trust's waiting list could afford a property at Bridesdale Farm.
''On average, these households can only afford a property up to the value of $300,000 - not one at a starting point of $450,000.''
Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden told councillors she was ''very uncomfortable'' with the idea of setting specific affordable housing requirements.
''What you potentially risk is that instead of becoming the aspirational level, it becomes a maximum level.''
If the council agreed a special housing proposal had shortcomings, it did not have to recommend it to the housing minister, Ms van Uden said.
