Affordable Housing decision

The Environment Court has ruled that the Queenstown Lakes District Council can address housing affordability under the Resource Management Act. The decision enables statute around what has been a voluntary process for developers in the district, marking an important community win, Queenstown Lakes District Council senior policy analyst Scott Figenshow said.

The decision is the first and most significant of two being sought around QLDC’s Affordable and Community Housing Plan Change 24, delivering on the 2005 Housing Our People in Our Environment (HOPE) Strategy actions to address the housing crisis in the district.

This first decision, handed down by Judge Whiting, states that ‘the proposed rules relate to a resource management purpose’, which promotes working with developers in a fair and consistent way to provide affordable housing in new developments seeking council approval to rezone land.

“Re-zoning land from rural to urban improves land value, this plan change means the wider community can benefit from that,” he said.

The decision could also not be received without crediting those developers that participated in contributing affordable housing to date in the district, on a voluntary basis, Mr Figenshow said.

Over the last eight years, seven affordable housing stakeholder agreements had been volunteered by developments in Queenstown, Wanaka, Albert Town, Kingston and Cardrona, with another two currently underway.

“These deeds have secured the delivery of over 250 affordable homes over the next 15 or more years,” Mr Figenshow said.

The first of these stakeholder agreements was signed with Jacks Point back in 2003, with 35 local residents helped to put down roots and own a home in the district through the programmes of the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust.

To protect those developers and the community’s interests the council needed to cement a mechanism in statute, which it chose to do through the Plan Change process.

The second decision sought, scheduled to be heard later this year or early 2011, would address the method that would be used to deliver affordable housing.

“As a result of this decision we have the vehicle; we just need to have the process agreed, it really is a critical step towards enabling future development to benefit the wider community,” Mr Figenshow said.

The plan change was a way to ensure that a portion of the new housing supply met the needs of the local workforce.

Opposing the Plan Change were developers: Remarkables Park Limited, Five Mile Holdings Limited (in Receivership), and a group comprised of Infinity Investment Group Holdings Limited, Willowridge Developments Limited, and Orchard Road Holdings Limited. 

Plan Change 24 Decision