As the Queenstown Lakes District is confirmed as leading New Zealand in population growth, the struggle for affordable housing continues.
Statistics New Zealand's latest population projections, released on Monday, confirmed Queenstown Lakes and the district of Selwyn, bordering Christchurch City, are expected to experience the highest population growth per year until 2031.
Queenstown is dependent on hospitality workers, the majority of whose incomes fall in the low to medium bracket.
Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust chairman David Cole said the consequences of this was that workers were having to spend a greater portion of their incomes "simply to pay for housing".
Following the statistics' release, Mr Cole said the challenge was now not only to help those who were on their list, but to "expand the assistance that we can provide to meet what is now expected to be a continuing and ongoing challenge."
He said the "inevitable legacy" of a resort town was most of the original residents owned holiday homes which came with high costs and were often unavailable during desirable times of the year.
As the move from a holiday town to a long-term community with dependable resources and infrastructure continued, "housing that works for everybody" was needed immediately, he said.
The last 10 homes in Nerin Square, at Lake Hayes Estate - the first comprehensive mixed-tenure development in the Queenstown Lakes District - were nearing and the trust was active in responding to need, he said.
The trust was also in discussion with developers at Shotover Country and had lodged interest with Queenstown Lakes District Council over a parcel of land at the top of Man St, known as Lakeview.
"We have quite a few irons in the fire," Mr Cole said.
Last week, the Otago Daily Times reported the council had received seven expressions of interest in developing the 4ha Lakeview site, although housing senior policy analyst Scott Figenshow declined to say who had lodged them.
The council had decided the development would be high-quality, high-density residential and include community housing with an option for visitor use.
Mr Cole said international research suggested "when you got housing right" other benefits would result.
However, if it was wrong, people would often suffer relationship, financial, health and other issues.
"It [housing] is the bedrock of what strong healthy communities rely on," Mr Cole said.
