A Queenstown housing trust has confirmed plans to build 1000 affordable homes over the next decade.
Photo: 123RF
During last year's election campaign, Labour promised to build 1000 homes in the resort town, where average house values have passed $1 million, eclipsing Auckland.
The Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust said it had met with the council and the Labour-led government and all three were on the same page as partners for the building programme.
The trust created 160 affordable houses in its first decade of operation, but has 500 families on its waiting list.
Its executive officer Julie Scott said the plan was ambitious, but the trust was confident it could deliver using a new model in which it owned the land and sold only the house.
Airbnb had been partly blamed for the shortage in housing. The accommodation app accounted for 270,000 visitor nights in the district in the 10 months to July.
The council voted last year to restrict the letting of homes in many residential parts of the district to 28 days a year, down from 90.
It said the limit would lead to fewer houses listed on Airbnb and more on the rental market.
Council figures showed 2700 houses have been removed from the long-term rental market as a result of Airbnb.
Airbnb Australia and New Zealand head of public policy Brent Thomas said the recommendations were an infringement on individuals' property rights.