Concern over shortage of rentals in Te Anau
She landed the dream job, but finding somewhere to live proved to be more of a challenge
Lydia McLean got a full-time job working for the Department of Conservation in Te Anau, but she says the dominance of shortterm holiday rentals made it very difficult to find somewhere to live.
McLean was offered the new job several months ago but can only move next week after finally finding a place to board in.
‘‘Nothing really gets advertised in Te Anau at all. It’s incredibly hard to find somewhere to live,’’ she said.
‘‘It must be really hard for people working in hospitality and those seasonal jobs – the place can’t develop and do well if there is no-where for people to live.’’
McLean is currently living in Queenstown, where she’s already seeing first-hand the effects of being surrounded by holiday rentals. ‘‘There’s no community. No-one knows each other and it’s all just a bit fake really. I know a lot of people who want to live here who are really talented, educated people who can’t get here because there’s nowhere to live.’’
McLean has written to Southland MP Joseph Mooney, and Housing Minister Megan Woods about the issue.
In her letter, she says ‘‘By allowing the dominance of airbnbs, there is no place for workers to live. I understand the benefits that tourism brings to the region, but if 100% of the rental housing stock is taken up by short-term accommodation then how can we attract new talent, families and tourism staff to the region. Long term residents are being directed to the holiday park while short term visitors stay in airbnbs,’’
Mooney was unable to comment about the issue yesterday, and she had not had a response from Woods.
Southland district mayor Rob Scott said the council was aware of the problem, but there was no ‘‘magic silver bullet’’ to fix it.
‘‘It’s a nationwide problem – how do you get into your first home or find somewhere to rent?’’ he said. ‘‘It is clearly an issue and council has an obligation not to bury its head in the sand look at solutions.
‘‘Converting airbnb’s into longer term rentals in Te Anau won’t actually solve the problem. One of the things we need to do, in my opinion, is open up more land for subdivision, so we can add more housing stock to the equation, and have more ratepayers to share the load.
Beyond 2025 Southland has launched a community survey aimed at getting a better understanding of the housing needs in the south.
The results will be used to help inform the development of a housing strategy and regional spatial plan, which will guide what sort of housing needs to be provided as Southland grows during the next 30 years.
Chair of Beyond 2025 Southland Housing Advisory Group Steve Parry, in a statement, said the survey was a critical step to developing a coordinated approach to housing across the region. ‘‘Housing is a critical issue for our community and this survey offers a great opportunity to understand what the people who live and work in our region need in terms of where and how they live,’’ he said.
Southland’s GDP was above the national average, and it had the lowest rate of unemployment since 2013 at 2.6%, Parry said.
‘‘However, we’re facing challenges in the housing and accommodation space. Our employers are increasingly noting that housing shortages are causing constraints to employment, particularly with recruitment of young people. At the same time our rental accommodation waiting lists have increased over 15% in recent times,’’ he said.
Beyond 2025 Southland is the long-term planning work stream within Southland’s Just Transition work plan and the updated Southland Regional Development Strategy 2015-2025.