Source: Radio New Zealand
Flooding in Henderson Valley, west Auckland on 27 January 2023. Supplied
An advocate for Aucklanders affected by the 2023 storms says a group of homeowners should have been advised of a move to avoid writing-off their properties.
Auckland Council will amend the buyout terms to increase funding for 13 homes at risk of future flooding or landslides to build retaining walls, move or lift the homes, to make them safe.
It means the homes can be lived in and the council will not have to pay up to $14 million buying out the properties – the homeowners have not yet been advised.
West Auckland is Flooding spokesperson Lyall Carter said some of them likely would have preferred a buyout.
“The people that are advocating on behalf of storm-impacted people, we don’t know who these people are and as far as we’re aware, these people don’t know who they are.”
He said they did not know what situations these homeowners were in.
“How far are they through this process, are they near the end of the process, do they expect to be bought out through this process? I mean, can understand why from a fiscal point of view they’re making this decision but you don’t change the rules halfway through the game.”
Carter said the homeowners should have been notified of the change before it went to councillors to vote on, on Tuesday.
“While I can understand on one hand the need to be good financial stewards, this is not the way in which you in my view that you work with victims of a weather disaster.”
As part of the buyout scheme, the council can now fund grants up to 40 percent of the property’s capital value (CV), an increase from 25 percent.
If building work exceeded that 25 percent limit, a variation could be sought to increase it or the homeowner could opt to be bought out.
Council’s recovery office said it would be contacting the homeowners with the details once the buyout terms are changed.
There are 75 Auckland properties in the early stages of having building works costed that would make them safe to live in.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
