Finding ways to give the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust ''more firepower and more teeth'' is expected to be one of the matters facing the new Queenstown Lakes mayoral task force to tackle affordable housing. At the informal function, Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said housing affordability was the ''biggest handbrake we've got''. On Friday, the Otago Daily Times reported the Central Otago Lakes region had officially overtaken Auckland to become the least affordable region for housing in New Zealand. When asked, Mr Boult said it was ''unlikely'' the council would look to deliver accommodation itself, but that was ''not off the table''. Clutha-Southland MP Todd Barclay said the announcement of the task force came at a ''poignant time''.

Source: Otago Daily Times April 09, 2017 19:07 UTC