The Auckland Council has agreed to support Category 2P property mitigations for homeowners who were affected by the severe weather events that occurred this year.
Category 2P properties are properties where changes or mitigations such as raising the house or building a retaining wall can be made to reduce an intolerable risk to life from flooding or landslide.
The Category 2P Property Risk Mitigation Scheme will provide funding to support affected homeowners through two grants, which will help them scope and complete building work that will reduce their property’s risk to a much more tolerable level. The grants are as follows:
Mat Tucker, the group recovery manager, said that funding the feasible mitigations for a property has multiple benefits.
“Firstly and most importantly the grants enable more whānau to stay in their homes and communities,” said Tucker. “They also reduce the environmental impact of demolishing or deconstructing buildings, and they’re more cost-effective for ratepayers than voluntary Category 3 buyouts.”
In order to be feasible, the mitigation work must not cost more than 25% of the property’s CV in total for both grants. The changes must also be completed within a span of two years.
The homeowners will be responsible for managing the work such as finding professional services and tradespeople that will complete the work. The usual building consent and resource consent requirement will still apply.
Tucker expected that about 100 to 120 properties will be considered under the 2P category. The costs of the grants scheme will be shared with the Crown through the co-funded Storm Recovery package.
Further information about the categorisation process as well as updates will be displayed on the Our Auckland recovery page. A Category 2P Homeowners Guide will also be made available soon and will be given to affected property owners once their property is confirmed to be 2P.
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