Floods struck Auckland in January and February, leaving hundreds of homes damaged. Photo: RNZ / Rayssa Almeida
Auckland Council will decide at a private meeting on Friday how it will buy homes damaged in recent severe storms.
A record 307mm of rain fell between 27 January and 1 February 2023, with floods damaging hundreds of homes.
Cyclone Gabrielle on 13 and 14 February then brought more than 300mm of rain, high winds and landslides.
More than 2400 public submissions were made about the council's purchase process for storm-wrecked homes.
About 83 percent of submitters support the council's proposal to spend just under $2 billion on storm recovery.
Warkworth's Mahurangi River flooding in February. Photo: Getty Images / Fiona Goodall
Water and transport
The council plans to spend $820 million on water resilience. This would go towards new 'bluegreen networks' in areas with critical flood risks and to rehabilitate streams, so they are more resilient to floods.
The plan sets aside $390m for transport recovery. This would be used to repair damaged roads and bridges and includes Mill Flat Road bridge, access to Karekare and Piha, several roads in west and north Auckland, and roads on Aotea/ Great Barrier Island.
Category 3 property buyouts
The council plans to spend up to $774m to buy about 700 category 3 homes. If more homes are found to pose a high risk to occupants during severe weather, central government and council would work together to decide the next steps.
The properties must be residential, damaged by severe weather in January and February 2023, pose intolerable risk to life, and lack a viable way to mitigate the risks.
When the council meets on 6 October, it will consider its policies on category 3 properties, including how to define them, whether holiday homes and rentals should be treated differently, how to set buyout prices, and the size of owner contributions.
Representatives from Muriwai Stickered Residents Group (MSRG), Piha/ Karekare/ Anawhata Stickered Residents Group (PKASRG) and Auckland Stickered Residents Group (ASRG) made presentations to the council governing body last Thursday.
Auckland Stickered Residents' Group said people wanted a fair process, where residents could participate in the decisions that would affect their families' futures.
A survey conducted by the group found 60 percent were concerned about risks to people's lives, saying categorisation of the damaged homes was not an exact science.
The survey found 67 percent were concerned about valuations and their ability to purchase again in their community.
People in category 3 properties will be offered a voluntary buyout by the council, with the costs shared between the government and council.
Funding is also available from the government and council to help people in category 2 houses, where alterations can be made to avoid unacceptable risk in future storms.
'We have people that have been displaced multiple times' - Carter
Caroline Bell-Booth from the Muriwai Stickered Residents Group said the coastal West Auckland community was hit by land slips during Cyclone Gabrielle which damaged a number of homes.
"Currently, we have 60 households still out of their homes, displaced."
Some people in category 1 houses had been able to return home, but many who owned category 2 or 3 houses were still in limbo, she said.
Bell-Booth said her own home was a category 3 and they qualified for the buyout, so were looking forward to hearing the council's determination on issues like the valuation process on Friday.
"Our hope is that it's akin to the Hastings model, which means that it's a market rate and theoretically that should allow people to stay within their own communities."
Bell-Booth also wanted a faster process for categorising homes so people could either return if they were category 1, or the buyout process could be completed by the end of the year.
An independent challenge mechanism had been built into the model which was something the group had been advocating which should help to avoid litigation, she said.
"I think what will become a real challenge now, not only for council, but for the incoming government is the role insurance plays in this whole discussion."
Lyall Carter from the group West Auckland is Flooding said he believed of the 750 homes that would be deemed category 3, about 550 were expected to be in flood-affected areas.
Flooding was a problem that had been going on for years, rather than months in some communities, he said.
"While I understand from a council point of view that they're doing everything they can to speed up the process, we have people who have been displaced multiple times."
It was important to remember the package would not include funding for property-level interventions, such as having to raise a home, he said.
This type of intervention was often very expensive, he said.
"We've got to keep in mind that a lot of these storm events, especially the floods, have hit communities that are on the bones of their arse.
"They're from communities that have a high deprivation index, the ability for a homeowner to completely fund the raising of a home, for example, is going to put huge financial strain and property owners won't be able to achieve that."
Carter said he believed the Crown should fund property-level interventions.
