By Felix Walton of RNZ
Residents and business owners on Auckland’s Waiheke Island are split on what to make of the island’s housing crisis.
Some believe the island is suffering from “over-tourism”, as landlords push long-term tenants out and convert their rental properties into vacation rentals. But others say the lack of housing is just another symptom of a nationwide crisis.
The island hosts more than 900,000 visitors each year, many staying in short-term rentals listed on services like Airbnb.
Trade Me Property listings show just over a dozen long-term rentals on Waiheke Island, but short-term listings on Airbnb number in the hundreds.
“There’s a characterisation of Waiheke being helicopters and vineyards,” Waiheke Community Housing Trust spokesperson Damian Sycamore said. “But there’s a community here being disembowelled by rampant over-tourism.”
Sycamore is among a number of Waiheke residents calling for the Government to regulate short-stay rentals.
He said long-term renters were being muscled out of the market.
“Waiheke’s properties have been massively financialised, it’s possible now for a short-term rental to be 250% more profitable than a long-term rental.
“That makes it heavily imbalanced in terms of what people who own properties on Waiheke do [with their properties].”
EcoZip Adventures managing director Gavin Oliver said the crisis was not unique to Waiheke.
“I’d certainly say it’s an issue but it’s not a Waiheke-specific issue, it’s a national issue, and we need a national solution to this problem.
“In places like Queenstown and Wānaka it’s just as acute, Wellington is as bad, and listening to reports coming in from other parts of the country they, too, have this problem.”
Sycamore disagreed.
“Waiheke probably has the most acute housing crisis of anywhere in New Zealand, which is seriously saying something.
“According to Infometrics, the rent to income ratio is even worse on Waiheke than it is in the Queenstown-Lakes district.”
Waiheke Local Board member Paul Walden said the lack of long-term rentals was damaging his community.
“It’s quite heartbreaking. We’ve had a beautiful young family who has lived next door for a number of years, and they’ve lost their rental accommodation so they go to another house, then another house ... There’s no long-term confidence they will find adequate rental accommodation [on Waiheke].”
Walden said some residents had resorted to staying in sheds.
“We have ... just about a subculture, really, of people who are making do across the island living in poor-quality housing under the radar. Garden sheds and sleepouts and garages that have been converted to provide accommodation.”
The owner of vineyard Casita Miro, Dr Barnett Bond, said a lot of the houses on Waiheke were empty.
“Because it’s a holiday destination, lots of Aucklanders have bought holiday homes here and many of those Aucklanders choose to leave those homes empty.
“That’s not a good thing if you’re trying to house a resident population who don’t own their own homes, renters.”
But he did not think it was tourists’ fault.
“It’s not the tourists that caused the property crisis, it’s the speculating on property by people who then leave those buildings empty .... That’s the problem.
“Most tourists who come to Waiheke don’t stay overnight.”
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited’s head of tourism, Karen Thompson-Smith, said housing on Waiheke Island was indeed an issue but tourism was not to blame.
“We’ve only reached 80% pre-Covid [tourism] numbers, so I don’t believe we’re seeing over-tourism as perhaps you would see in places like Barcelona,” she said.
“In fact when I was talking to a number of operators based on Waiheke ... it’s probably one of the quietest winters they’ve ever had.”
Gavin Oliver noted that New York had grappled with a similar issue.
“We certainly need to try to find a solution. The New York model is that you’re only able to rent your property out if you’re actually resident in the property ... That’s certainly one solution.
“It’s certainly a really interesting model, it’s one of the ones that’s touted quite widely and I’d be keen to see how that could be applied.”
The Auckland Council has agreed to meet with the Waiheke community in October.