Rental housing Crown agency Kāinga Ora and the Auckland Council have refused to comment on the state of flood-prone properties as over 700 homes are expected to be included in the recently proposed buyout scheme.
The aftermath of the January deluge continues to shroud the fate of numerous water-damaged properties, raising concerns around the resilience and recovery of affected homes, particularly in Auckland's Māngere area.
Approximately 2,000 state homes endured damage during the floods, with 205 properties in Māngere witnessing extreme devastation that led residents to evacuate as their homes were uprooted by heavy rainfall.
In an RNZ report, a recent announcement by Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown unveiled a cost-sharing arrangement with the Crown to facilitate over $2 billion for flood recovery and resilience works. This allocation is set to cover the acquisition of category 3 properties, with more than 700 properties expected to fall under this scheme.
Caroline Butterworth, deputy chief executive of Kāinga Ora Tāmaki Tai Tokerau, revealed that the state landlord is collaborating with Auckland Council to ascertain the fate of approximately 120 irreparable properties in its possession.
While specific categorisation under category 3 remains uncertain, Butterworth suggested that, based on the severity of the January damage, a subset of around a few dozen homes is likely to be designated as category 3, predominantly concentrated in South and West Auckland.
However, conflicting views emerged regarding the buyout policy. In another interview, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown asserted that the buyout of state housing lay within the jurisdiction of the central government.
“As we are still talking with Auckland Council, it would be inappropriate for us to provide any details at this stage about how specific properties might be impacted,” a Kāinga Ora spokesperson said when queried about the Auckland mayor’s statement.
Similarly, the Auckland Council declined to comment on the future of the affected state houses, stating that comprehensive details on the policy settings within the buyout scheme would only be available once finalised.
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