Key Worker Housing Workshop

The Council hosted a one day workshop on Key Worker Housing in the Alpine Resorts in December 2007.

A perennial problem for the Resorts and on-mountain businesses is how to accommodate staff. With the environmental impact of driving to and from off-mountain accommodation each day and the social benefits of developing sustainable communities now also being recognised, it was timely to bring alpine managers, on-mountain businesses and other key stakeholders together.

Around 50 participants - from Government, business, community and resort management sectors - worked together to identify issues and explore solutions.

It was a positive and productive day. The relevant issues were scoped, some of the complexities were unravelled and possible solutions presented. It was demonstrated that something positive can be done, with potential partnerships identified as well as some next steps.

To assist discussions, four presentations were made:
"Key Worker Housing, Scoping the Issue" - Professor Terry Burke, Institute for Social Research, Swinburne University.

"Alpine Resorts and Key Worker Housing: Queenstown's Strategy" - Patricia M Austin, School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland.

"Bass Coast Shire - a unique blend of country, bush and coast" - Jeanette Draper, Social Planner, Bass Coast Shire Council.

"Is affordable housing affordable? Some North American solutions." - Brad Miles, Executive Officer, Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council.

A professional facilitator, Ms Michelle Howard, led the workshop discussions. A series of workshop findings were compiled and are available to workshop participants on request from the Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council secretariat.