There are fears for the number of homeless people in Queenstown as winter looms.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Hannah Sullivan said she led a protest last night, demanding Queenstown Lakes District Council and the Government work together.
Sullivan, who has been living in Queenstown for seven years is now facing homelessness.
"I came back from Scotland after a holiday for a few months, back into my rental that I'd been in for four years and had been given a 90 day notice period.
"I have been looking for houses with my house mate and on my own, full houses, and rooms also, just with absolutely dead ends constantly."
She said housing has always been a problem in Queenstown, but it's getting worse with longer wait times to get into accommodation.
Sullivan said she visited a campsite where a man in his 70s was living in a tent and also a family of six with their dog.
"There are people who have lived here there whole lives who are struggling to retire because their rent went up, businesses who are unable to open because they don't have the staff because there's no where for them to live.
"Everything has a knock on affect, even public transport because we don't have bus drivers."
It comes after nearly 1500 Queenstown residents responded to the council's annual quality of life survey.
Twenty per cent said they needed to move in the last 12 months, 16% of which said they were doing so because their home wasn't healthy to live in.
A further 16% of residents also said they were worried about having somewhere to live.
Southland MP Joseph Mooney said in a statement housing affordability is a problem across the country but Queenstown has been particularly affected by it for decades.
"I’ve already spent a considerable amount of time over the last two years meeting with a diverse range of stakeholders seeking to understand the complexities of this issue and what can be done about it."
Queenstown Mayor Glyn Lewers also said there's a raft of things being done to try and alleviate the situation and help residents.
But Sullivan says: "We're calling for action, his vision statement when he was going to become mayor for example, was for Queenstown to become a place where all locals can live, work and play in a thriving community.
"It's not thriving right now, and people need to be held accountable and take action rather than just having meetings to talk about it."
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