Queenstown housing crisis bites, tourism giants buy staff accommodation

Friday, 13 April 2018

Mayor Jim Boult says assisting developers with workers' accommodation projects was high on council's list.

Queenstown's tourism giants are purchasing and renting residential properties to house workers who are struggling to find somewhere to live.

Queenstown Lakes District mayor Jim Boult said the lack of workers accommodation was an 'ongoing' issue for the town where house prices are the most expensive in New Zealand.

'It will not get resolved until we get some purpose-built seasonal accommodation for workers.'

Solving it was a high priority for council who would assist the right developer, he said. 'It amazes me how some young folks still manage to find places.'

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An artist's impression of an aerial view of Skyline Queenstown's proposed redevelopment.

Skyline Enterprises chief executive Geoff McDonald said his company had bought four properties to accommodate staff.

The first home was purchased 'a few years back', with the most recent property purchased three weeks ago.

Real Journeys and Cardrona Alpine Resort chief executive Richard Lauder says the company has plans to accommodate 50 workers at Walter Peak in two years.

Staff could live in the two-bedroom to six-bedroom homes for about eight weeks - until they established themselves in town, McDonald said.

Supplying accommodation had become 'critical' to retain staff who were leaving town as they could not find homes.

'Without it we would have been really struggling. It helps but it doesn't solve the problem.'

The company was looking for more worker accommodation properties as it was planning a $60 million facelift and there would be 'significant growth' in staff numbers, McDonald said.

Ten units for Walter Peak farm staff are planned for next summer.

Real Journey's chief executive Richard Lauder said his company had built accommodation for staff at Milford Sound and Stewart Island and would invest in 10 units at Walter Peak Station this year.

Walter Peak Station is on the opposite side of Lake Wakatipu to Queenstown and is the destination of the popular TSS Earnslaw steamship. The company has a restaurant and working farm at the station. About 80 workers are based there.

Lauder said there would be room for up to 35 staff members by next summer and up to 50 by 2020.

'The advantage is that we have quite a bit of land in Walter Peak. We are not having to buy land and build in Queenstown.'

The new planned accommodation would be a mix of single, studio and two bedroom units.

NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson says the company had about 'half a dozen' rental properties in Queenstown for management staff.

Accommodation was not free, but was 'appropriate' and 'cheaper than the Queenstown equivalent', Lauder said.

'We have a greater concern for people who come here and bring up their families. If you are moving to Queenstown from Dunedin or Invercargill, there's a difference in cost structure and it's harder to enter the [housing] market here.'

The company had also rented between 60 and 70 Wanaka properties during ski season to house some of the 600 workers at Cardrona Alpine Ski Resort.

'We review it each year because we are nervous about that but we don't seem to have any issues - unlike NZSki who clearly have an issue housing people,' he said.

NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson said the company has more than 900 workers at the Remarkables and Coronet Peak ski fields in the winter and provided about 'half a dozen' properties to their management staff.

The company wanted to 'tap into' new developments in the resort, to help house workers.

'Should we purchase more or build something? Our preference is to work with developers.'

Anderson said the Queenstown Lakes District Council was doing a 'fantastic' job increasing the supply of affordable housing in the area.

About half of the seasonal workers each year were not new to town and had existing flatting arrangements. About 300 needed assistance in finding accommodation, Anderson said.

Last winter the company arranged to put about 100 workers into family homes and would continue the strategy this year.

'We are really happy with the way things worked last year. Thirty per cent of hosts came back and reached out to us.'

Ski season workers would start arriving in Queenstown in May, he said.