People are being forced to sleep in their cars as Queenstown's housing crisis reaches catastrophic levels.
Rents in the city have skyrocketed to a whopping median of $700 a week - up $100 a week from 2022.
Apprentice builder Bruce Couchman moved from Queenstown for work but can't find accommodation. Couchman told AM on Thursday he's been living in his car since January.
He said sometimes he will live at campsites but even they are overrun with people.
"It is pretty competitive trying to get a space in a campground at this point. So you sort of take it when you can," he said.
Couchman said it's so bad he's given up looking for housing, especially given how many families he sees in the same position as him.
"It is so competitive and there are women and children living in cars and for me, I would rather see them in that accommodation than myself so I don't even chase it at this point.
"There are people out here and all they do all day is try to find somewhere to live and they are not getting far. When there is nowhere to go, what do you do?"
He sees at least half a dozen people sleeping in their cars every night and it's often new people every time.
Couchman said he moved up from Invercargill in the hopes of bettering himself but he's losing hope.
"I came here for the work opportunity. I came here trying to better myself, better my future and I know that a lot of the people who are staying in their cars are in the same position… They're here because the Queenstown District is screaming out for workers but they can't accommodate us."
He said one of the biggest issues is the Council fining people for freedom camping when they are actually living out of their cars because they have nowhere to go.
"The Council is just blanket fining everyone under the Freedom Camping Act…That is a big issue for a lot of people, that $400 fine a couple of times a week… Yes, okay they don't have to pay $400 today but it keeps these people behind, it keeps them in their car.
"It seems the Council wants to work against us even though it's their region that is screaming out for people to come.
"We've got a huge homelessness crisis and they're not improving anything for anyone by fining people who are just trying to get by."
It's not just Queenstown facing increasing rents though. Newly released research by agencies including the Treasury, Reserve Bank and Housing and Urban Development Ministry shows rents rose 83 percent between 2003 and 2022 - with supply and demand and wage inflation named as the two biggest contributing factors.
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub, who wasn't involved in the research, said there was a supply and demand mismatch for rental accommodation in New Zealand.
"New Zealand simply does not build enough houses and, when those houses are built, they don't turn into rental properties fast enough," he told AM earlier in the month.
"If there's a shortage, of course, you can raise prices and you can raise prices until people can't afford to pay any more."
