Lack of accommodation, jobs hinder council recruitment in Mackenzie
Monday, 30 March 2026
The Mackenzie District Council has been without a designated health and safety partner since August, with two potential candidates turning down the job.
It's part of a wider trend of people struggling to find rental accommodation in the district, which includes Twizel and Tekapo, as a high number of properties are used for holiday homes and Airbnbs.
Two potential candidates turned down a role at the council as they couldn't find somewhere suitable to live and their partners couldn't find work for their partners.
A report by the council’s general manager of people, customer and cultural relationship, Alexis Kereikeepa, was tabled at Tuesday’s meeting and outlined the challenges the council faced in trying to fill the vacancy in its health and safety team.
“This was largely due to their partners not being able to find employment, as well as the location, and the difficulty they were having with finding a suitable place to live within the district,” she wrote.
The council had not had a designated health and safety business partner since August.
Kereikeepa highlighted the importance of the role and explained some of the responsibilities assigned to it.
“They would work really closely with the likes of the roading team, public facilities, parks and places on risk management.
“They would be going out and working with the contractors to ensure there’d be audits on the sites, there’d be spot inspections from a health and safety perspective.”
She said with the district’s large land scope, there were multiple health safety concerns for workers including working alone, fatigue and travel.
Mayor Scott Aronsen spoke about the risks to the council if a health and safety worker was not appointed.
Aronsen said the council had one staff member in Twizel who kept track of contractors and ensured rules and regulations were adhered to, however liability remained an issue.
“I’m well aware that … we need to be up to speed … in this whole area, because we are liable if we get called out,” Aronsen said.
The lack of housing, especially worker housing, had long been a concern in the Mackenzie District.
“In the interests of trying to find a way to tackle this issue, [the] council realised we needed to better understand how other councils have tackled this problem,” Oosthuizen said at the time.
Average house prices in the district now sit at $814,635, up 4.35% on 12 months ago.
Comparatively, Timaru’s average house price sits at $536,085 and Dunedin’s at $653,394.
But it’s the lack of long-term rentals causing concern.
Twizel Community Board chairperson Mary Murdoch said she was aware of many people sleeping in their cars along Lake Wardell, in Pukaki.
“I’ve talked to the community care centre and they definitely need help. There is nowhere for our tourist workers, which we rely on,” Murdoch said.
Given the high number of properties being used as Airbnbs in the town, Murdoch said she believed additional compliance was required to help encourage more owners to shift to long-term rentals.
“Aside from actually zoning lands and only allowing it to be residential housing, not your Airbnb or visitor accommodation, I’m not quite sure what else [we can do] because every community is coping with this.
“I’m under the understanding we actually need some Central Government [support] to give additional levers.”
She said a hostel may help, but that would require someone to build and run one, something the council could not do.
Airbnbs 'completetly out of hand'
Alex Muston has struggled to find housing in Twizel.
He had been searching for two years for a rental for himself and his two children so they could move back to his home town.
Muston, who was based in Rangiora, said he had noticed short-term rentals transitioning to Airbnbs.
“Airbnbs have just gotten completely out of hand up there … People can charge $400+ a night, gain a hell of a lot more money to be able to cover their mortgages and everything over time, especially over the quiet season.
“It’s becoming more and more ridiculous to try and actually get a property up there.”
He said he was aware of many seasonal workers living in cars and tents.
“Now those people have legit jobs. So they’ve got money to be able to pay for a house every single week.”
TradeMe showed just three long-term rentals in Twizel, and two in Fairlie, as of Monday, while RealEstateNZ had one rental property listed in the district.
The council planned to implement its Health and Safety business role in its Long Term Plan, to be finalised later in the year.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air