The annual scramble for seasonal workers’ winter accommodation has been eased this year thanks to new accommodation offerings. 

Speaking to the regularity of the problem, Home and Co rental agency director Colleen Topping said the town hadn’t been “quite so slammed” this winter. 

During previous winters the rental squeeze has led to seasonal workers sleeping in cars, setting up makeshift bedrooms in garages, and even turning down jobs due to difficulty finding accommodation. 

It even spurred a (now shuttered) voluntary network designed to pair up workers with residents who have spare bedrooms to try to ease the problem. 

See also: Locals step up to help with accommodation shortage.

Colleen said she believed the accommodation being provided by Cardrona and Treble Cone along with Wānaka Backpackers Bothy in the former Base Backpackers - now called the Bothy 2 - had taken some of the pressure off the market this winter. 

The Bothy 2 was set up in autumn and it has room to sleep 120 Cardrona and Treble Cone employees, which is roughly 13 percent of the skifields’ workforce. 

Cardrona and Treble Cone experiences general manager Laura Hedley said difficulties with staff accommodation this winter had been mostly resolved.

“The Bothy 2 was definitely required for staff accommodation this year and has housed a lot of the staff that were finding it difficult,” she said. 

In Colleen’s role she has seen the winter accommodation shortage year after year.

She said a significant factor contributing to the ongoing rental shortage in winter is the result of a law change which means tenants can decide to stay on after a tenancy ends. 

“This means that owners who want to use their house for themselves but not on a permanent basis cannot if the tenant elects not to leave,” she said. “The net result is owners of these houses don’t rent them out.”

This law change also has an impact on the longer-term rental market, Colleen said.

“One of the latest [long-term] houses we have been advertising in Northlake had 24 applications representing at least 48 individuals.”

The Workforce Accommodation Network (WAN) was formed by Carmen Blacker in December 2022 to help address seasonal rental shortages.  

After two and a half years Carmen made the decision to put the WAN “on hold”.

In a statement Carmen said she had found there was little acceptance of the size of the problem, nor an appetite to “try something new” - like making use of spare rooms, secondary dwellings to house staff - to help reduce shortages. 

Laura said Cardrona and Treble Cone would continue to look for options to house seasonal workers in the future.

“We are hoping we can continue to work with local accommodation providers for staff housing solutions.”

PHOTO: Wānaka App