Body blow for housing trust
Trail-blazing plans to force property developers to pay towards affordable housing have been scrapped.
Queenstown Lakes District Council wanted to change its district plan to require most new residential developments to make a contribution of either land or money.
That would have been passed on to Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust (QLCHT), to develop housing for low-to-moderate income earners, in a district where the average house price tops $1.6 million.
But a panel of independent commissioners says council did not provide enough research or analysis to support the changes.
"We're really, really disappointed, and quite surprised by the decision," QLCHT boss Julie Scott says.
"There was discussion from the panel that there's no evidence to suggest that inclusionary housing would work. However, it has been working quite successfully on a voluntary basis on the ground for 21 years."
Scott says QLCHT has been "built on the backbone" of inclusionary housing, enabling it to build eight housing developers and help 244 local households.
"There's a really strong precedent for the process... it was just a matter of formalising it in the district plan."
At Thursday's full council meeting, the proposal was officially withdrawn.
The panel suggested the council looks at funding affordable housing initiatives through rates and development contributions, urban intensification, partnering with central government, and addressing the Airbnb / residential visitor accommodation issue.
Much of that work is already underway and Deputy Mayor Quentin Smith questioned whether the panel had overstepped its mark.
He said the proposal "wasn't a perfect solution but it was part of a strategic approach to addressing one of the greatest issues in our district".
It touched on wider questions about whether the next generation would be able to stay in Queenstown Lakes and whether businesses could find workers who could afford to live here.
"Unfortunately, we're left on the backfoot again, without any solution ... at this point in time, there is no future opportunity for us to require any additional land to be given to the housing trust and that puts their work at significant risk," Smith says.
Councillor Barry Bruce, however, echoed the sentiments of people and organisations, including developers, who submitted against the proposal.
"Such a charge will inevitably be passed on by the developer and frankly they are akin to a Robin Hood tax, potentially resulting in neighbour subsidising neighbour," Cr Bruce says. "I don't think that's neither fair not equitable."
Cr Bruce says the district has always been expensive compared to elsewhere, even when he first bought property here back in 1975.
Cr Lisa Guy thanked the council team for giving the "out there call" a shot and said the decision would be incredibly disappointing for the 1300 families and people on the Trust's waiting list for affordable housing.
"My concern around this is we've got to get back in the game as quick as we can and use as many levers as we can to help support sustainable housing."
Queenstown Mayor Glyn Lewers shared his deputy's frustrations but said a positive was that the panel found inclusionary zoning was "completely lawful under the Resource Management Act" and the council's economic case for the change was valid.
"It's interesting to hear people say it is 'dead'. It actually gives us the option to go again, but that will be on a council decision at a later date, whether it's this council or a council in the future," Lewers says.
Scott says QLCHT has projects in the pipeline and legally binding obligations from developers for its current and near-future projects, including three voluntary inclusionary housing agreements its signed with developers in the past six months.
And the hope is it will continue, rather than developers using the panel's ruling to push back against the scheme.
