Photo: 123RF
Homeless in paradise - that's how Queenstown residents describe living in the resort town during the housing crisis.
People are resorting to living in cars, tents, hostels and couch surfing as rentals are in very short supply.
It has prompted residents to protest on Monday, calling for more action.
With snow on the hills and winter creeping closer, there is a dire need for solutions.
One Queenstown man - who asked not to be named - was told to leave so his landlord could renovate.
"I'm living out of a car. Not even a caravan, just a normal car that you'd get about your daily life in, while also working full time, while also looking for house, while also looking for somewhere to shower every night, somewhere to cook."
This has been the past three-and-a-half weeks and currently it did not look like it would change anytime soon.
He is on a visa that ties him to the area, and said it was taking a toll on his mental health.
"A homeless person living in paradise for a lot of people at the moment. That's the situation we're in and it's getting to a point where it's just worrying because winter is around the corner and there's so many people living out of cars, vans, and not everyone has access to a powered site or a socket to plug in a heater overnight. It's just very, very tough out here," he said.
He was tired of seeing empty houses or more houses go onto short term accommodation when people had been living in cars for months.
It had been even tougher with the temperature dropping.
"I've got a sleeping bag, duvet and I put as many layers on as possible to keep warm during the nights, put neck warmers on. Sometimes even sleep with gloves, it gets to that point."
There are more than 870 households on the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust 's waiting list - about 80 percent are Queenstown based.
Its chief executive Julie Scott described the state of rental housing as diabolical.
"It's a real crisis. I haven't seen anything like this in a long, long time. I think the issue is probably worse than pre-Covid in terms of the number of homeless people."
There was no quick fix or one issue to solve.
The Healthy Home rules - while fantastic for tenant's well-being - had meant some landlords have switched to short term stays to avoid paying for the upgrades, and other homes were sitting empty, she said.
The most recent census data suggested more than a quarter of the district's houses were unoccupied.
"We are imploring home owners who have these unoccupied homes to lease them out, perhaps for a six month basis or an eight month basis. If they want it for a couple of weeks over summer, then that's fine but let somebody use it in the interim. So that's another aspect that we're looking in to."
The trust has three projects on the go including a 68-lot development in Arrowtown that should have some houses completed next year.
Happiness House manager Léna Boss said families and individuals were struggling to put a roof over their head.
Available rooms and homes were in short supply, were often very expensive and were flooded with applications, she said.
"One of the main concerns at the moment is the winter that is coming. It actually just snowed last night, not in Queenstown but just on the mountains next to us.
"There is a big concern about people not finding a place to live in the long term."
She was facing an uncertain future after the house she has lived in for more than three years was recently sold.
"Definitely unsettling and I guess it shows that it's everybody ... everybody's in that same situation, like it can happen to anyone."
The situation would get worse closer to the ski season if nothing was done, she said.
While Happiness House did not offer support for housing, she said it was somewhere warm to go that offered social, emotional and practical support.
Queenstown Lakes District mayor Glyn Lewers, said recent data showed that there have been enough new houses built to keep up with local population growth so building more homes would not solve the problem alone.
The local council was working towards new inclusionary zoning rules that would mean most new residential developments would pay a fee towards more affordable housing, he said.
"Just last Friday we heard that the minister for the environment has approved our use of a streamlined planning process at Ladies Mile on the main route into Queenstown.
"This is a really exciting opportunity to provide new schools and community facilities along with more than 2000 new homes with a focus on the type currently in short supply - housing suitable for older households, smaller households, and lower and lower-middle income households.
"I acknowledge this will be some years away but it is another one of the positive steps underway.
"We adopted the Queenstown Lakes Homes Strategy just over a year ago. This addresses the key challenges of affordability, choice, quality and government assistance. One of the outcomes is the development of a joint action plan in partnership with central government, Kāinga Ora and (the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust)."
Housing Minister Megan Woods said the housing crisis was decades in the making for Queenstown, but work was underway to improve the situation.
"This includes 300 new homes in Queenstown, at various price points, including over 105 affordable homes for first home buyers," Woods said.
"We are also investing in things like pipes and roads to get even more new homes built.
"While there is much more work needed to solve the crisis we are seeing green shoots of change."
