Housing Minister Megan Woods’ office can’t confirm there’s any visit planned to Queenstown at the moment.
Last in the Whakatipu in March, 2021, to officially launch Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust’s secure home scheme at Toru Apartments, a spokesperson for Woods tells Mountain Scene she has ‘‘a lot of interest and input and remains very committed to doing
work to address the housing problems there’’.
In response to questions from Scene, Woods says, in a statement, ‘‘the only way out of the housing crisis we inherited is to build our way out, and this government is supporting a wide range of activity to enable new housing’’.
‘‘We are seeing the green shoots of change, but the housing crisis was decades in the making, and it will take some more time to fully turn around.”
She says “there is no doubt that Queenstown has been hit hard by the housing crisis as affordable housing supply has not kept up with growth, particularly given the pressures on short-term accommodation there’’.
The minister also points out the work they’ve done on Ngāi Tahu Property’s Te Pa Tāhuna development, involvement in the Ladies Mile masterplan, providing infrastructure funding, and working with the housing trust.
