LOCALLY OWNED SINCE FOREVER
28 Feb - 6 Mar
LAKES WEEKLY BULLETIN
No 890
LA FE
K
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AT S UR BU E SI IN N SI E D S E S
Targeted Solutions required for Housing Crisis Our local tourism economy is in full-swing recovery, Queenstown Airport arrivals are back to pre-COVID levels, our roads back to the familiar crawl, the global hospitality worker shortage continues to bite, more homes slide into the visitor accommodation market, and the reality of a failed worker accommodation market worsens by the day. Meanwhile QLDC’s proposed inclusionary zoning policy has got people talking about how we can deal with the crisis more effectively. While the almost 200 submissions to the proposed policy support the intent of the policy, they do not support the perverse tax on housing aspect of it. Most submissions suggest a broader-based approach, with all aspects of the district’s economy contributing to the cost of affordable housing. Several, like mine, suggest that a targeted rate would be a more effective, equitable, and legally defensible approach than a levy on subdivisions and housing development. Meanwhile small and larger employers are talking about the homes they are leasing so they can hold onto key staff, more former backpacker’s hostels are becoming exclusively longer-term worker accommodation, and the chamber of commerce is holding workshops on what employers can do to help accommodate their staff. We need more of this! Despite the mayor trying to recover from his earlier claim that the council has done all it can, nothing more has been suggested than a collaborative housing conversation. A step in the right direction, but real action is what is needed now. Wicked problems like this require multiple solutions. An RMA-based levy on housing, like that proposed, is not only inadequate but is poorly targeted, and will be stuck in the Environment Court for years, with the council likely to lose in the end. Extending the policy to a new targeted rate to be applied to all future developments is essential to achieve the outcomes intended – while reducing the financial impact on housing developers, increasing the funding for worker housing projects, and helping to manage growth. The most appropriate approach would be a rate based on the number of new beds any new development would generate, rather than the proposed square-metre or value-based model. A new rate could be remitted on developments that provide their own permanently affordable working accommodation or make contributions to a worker accommodation trust. While we’re at it, a differential rate on the 27% of homes that are empty most of the year, and a significantly higher differential rate on residential visitor accommodation, would send the right signals and help build a meaningful worker accommodation fund. Let’s keep the pressure on the council to provide and enable lasting solutions to this crisis, meeting its statutory responsibility to provide for the social, environmental, and economic well-being of our communities.
Six beautiful Lilliput Library boxes decorated by local artists will reveal books written in languages from every continent in the world on Saturday at Frankton Library. Local artists groups gave up their time at a community painting weekend recently. Read more on the launch in Community Notes on page 16
Jon F Mitchell
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