Trouble in paradise: a housing crisis on Waiheke Island

In the dozens of waterfront houses along Waiheke Island’s most popular beach, all the curtains are closed. The last permanent resident died recently, and now, all these houses are holiday homes – the ghost houses of Waiheke, according to local board member Paul Walden.
On the other side of the hill, a bay full of boats is the perfect postcard image. But most of these boats house locals who have nowhere else to live.
This stark contrast illustrates the housing crisis on Waiheke Island.
Home to more than 30 boutique vineyards, New Zealand’s island of wine has become a bucket list item for tourists. More than 900,000 people visit annually.
But that popularity has come at a cost: a recent Newsroom article reported that homelessness on Waiheke is the highest per capita in the Auckland region. There simply isn’t enough long-term accommodation for the 9700 permanent residents.
Some say this is the direct result of over-tourism and today The Detail takes a trip around the island with Walden to find out if that’s the case, or if the problem is more complex.
The journey begins in Oneroa, just up the hill from the ferry terminal. Walden says it’s no longer the thriving residential hub he grew up in.
“On any one of these streets there might be a handful of houses that are occupied permanently. The remainder of them will either be family baches and or available for short-term rentals,” he says.
On Airbnb, there are 698 listings on Waiheke. When we looked at TradeMe this week, there were four available three-bedroom homes for long-term rent. Walden says there are hundreds of people homeless, an imbalance that’s been seen globally in tourism hot spots.
“We haven’t provided for the sustainability for our community on Waiheke and the issues that we’re facing are the issues that have been faced in all popular tourist destinations,” he says.
Walden says unless a family is in the position to buy a house, they become itinerant, and face the inevitable reality of packing up and moving on once their lease expires. He knows of families living in cars, where the children go to school and the parents go to work.
It’s a reality that single mum Julia Kate Mack has faced many times. The third generation Waihekian is raising her two primary school-aged children on the island.
“Since my kids were born I’ve had to move five times,” she says. “Each time not by choice.”
Mack says she gets a terrible feeling in her gut every time she’s faced with finding a new place to live.
“You’ll look on the rental listings and there will be like eight listings and half of those listings are over $1000 a week, so you have to narrow it down again, and to make matters worse I have a dog, so then you have to narrow it down again,” she says.
The Detail also speaks to locals in Oneroa about the issue. They describe the rental market as insecure, recounting stories of people living in cars or moving off the island. But none think tourists are to blame.
“It’s not so much the tourists coming, it’s the people who have the multiple properties that they don’t live in, that are leaving a lot of houses empty,” says one shop owner.
“Airbnb probably has a massive part to play in the shortage of long-term rental properties being available,” says a young mother.
When asked if they think capping tourist numbers is a good idea, the answer is clear.
“That’s ridiculous, no, we need as many tourists as possible especially in winter,” says one.
And from another:
“We’re artists so we sell to the tourists, so if we don’t have tourists coming, we don’t sell our work.”
Co-owner of restaurant and vineyard Casita Miro, Cat Vosper, says the high numbers of visitors are not the problem.
“I would say that tourism has created opportunities, employment, robustness and deep happiness,” she says.
But the shortage of accommodation for summer workers has hit Vosper’s business.
“There’s a youth hostel down the road with 36 beds and the only way that we can use that for short-term accommodation for our summer workers is to buy it and pay it forward, which is a very difficult thing to ask businesses to do.”
Walden says Waiheke needs a sustainable tourism plan, and there is a draft version based on a UNESCO world tourism organisation framework sitting with the council. But he doesn’t think it’s the complete solution.
“My concern is that the output of the plan is not actually providing a pathway to address many of the issues that are impacting our community,” he says.
Tourism and housing are interelated, he says, and a sustainable tourism plan needs to identify the issues and look for solutions.
Locals will meet with the council in October, but have been asking for a change for years. They say regulations are based on the wider Auckland region, and have roadblocked progress on the island.
“We shouldn’t be shackled by the same rules or policy settings that exist across the Auckland district because there’s a totally different subset of issues,” says Walden.
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