Image: Clutha District CouncilA tiny town in New Zealand has launched a campaign to attract new residents in order to deal with a peculiar problem - it has too many jobs, too many affordable houses, and not enough residents to fill them.
Kaitangata, which sits an hour away from Dunedin on the South Island, has just 800 residents. And yet the mayor of Clutha, which includes the town, says there are upwards of 1,000 job opportunities, according to The Guardian.
Under the scheme, people who move to the picturesque town will be offered a house and a sizable chunk of land for around £122,000. Kaitangata is hoping it will attract disgruntled residents from New Zealand's big, busy cities. But given the outcome of the EU referendum, it might just attract attention from a few British citizens.
Most of the jobs in Kaitangata focus agriculture and food processing, with dairy processing a one of the main employers.
Clutha mayor Bryan Cadogan, said: “When I was unemployed and had a family to feed, the Clutha gave me a chance, and now we want to offer that opportunity to other Kiwi families who might be struggling.
“We have got youth unemployment down to two. Not 2% – just two unemployed young people.”
He added: “So many of the things Kiwis value, such as owning your own home and providing for your family, have become an impossible dream. For a lot of people in New Zealand life is just an endless slog. And that really saddens me.”
Dairy farmer Evan Dick, who is managing the campaign, said: “The housing crisis in New Zealand has made the Kiwi dream unattainable for many people, but in Kaitangata the Kiwi dream is still a reality.
“This is an old-fashioned community, we don’t lock our houses, we let kids run free. We have jobs, we have houses, but we don’t have people. We want to make this town vibrant again, we are waiting with open arms.”
