Annabel's tiny house was washed away in floodwaters in Swanson, West Auckland, in January 2023. Photo: RNZ / Felicity Reid
Some Auckland homeowners are struggling to pay the mortgage on their storm-damaged homes, along with rent for the house they are living in, after being denied weekly accommodation support.
Dozens of people in the Auckland Stickered Residents Group have written to new Minister of Social Development Louise Upston asking to be included in the support.
They want the government to urgently review the criteria for its Temporary Accommodation Assistance, which is not available for houses held in trusts and those which are uninsured.
Ministry of Social Development figures for Auckland show as of October, 72 applications had been granted and 30 declined.
When flooding hit the region on Auckland's anniversary weekend in January, Annabel and her husband were living in a tiny home on their Swanson section because their house had already been flooded.
The tiny house was washed away.
"It ended up floating down the road, there's countless photos of it. It ended up on top of a car and my husband actually floated out of the driveway in it, and had to jump out with the two dogs and swim to safety," she said.
There is a creek in their backyard and their insurer refused to continue covering the house after it first flooded in 2021 - requiring them to develop flood mitigation plans.
"My husband had literally sent a flood wall plan to an engineer to sign off on the day of the [January] flood. It's not like we were sitting on our hands just waiting to get insurance. We were proactively looking to get insurance, we know how important it is."
Water had flooded the house up to 1.5 metres but being uninsured proved a barrier to accessing support.
"Unfortunately because of that fact we've not been eligible for any of the accommodation assistance which we find just absolutely insane," Annabel said.
"We're essentially being penalised for going through two significant flood events instead of just one."
Annabel and her husband are paying a mortgage on the uninsured, unlivable house and rent for another they're living in - out of their own pockets, after being turned down for a weekly grant through the Ministry of Social Development's temporary accommodation assistance package.
"There really needs to be an urgent review of this policy before Christmas because we're not the only people in this boat, there are quite a few people that have been declined for just silly reasons they just don't make sense," she said.
"We've repeatedly gone back to them to explain our situation."
The couple are still waiting to hear from Auckland Council if their flooded house will be bought out.
'We need help to make ends meet'
A Muriwai resident - who wants to remain anonymous - is in a similar situation, paying a mortgage on a house he cannot live in and rent for another he is living in while he waits for a buyout offer.
He was declined for the temporary accommodation grant because his house is in a trust - and has been for 20 years.
MSD said 90 applications had been granted nationally, 42 declined of which 12 were because the house was held in a trust.
"When we found out we couldn't get assistance that was on top of the stress that was already there to do with our house ... so for a month or so it was pretty tough going," he said.
He is among residents who have written to the minister asking for the eligibility criteria to be reviewed.
"Our house is at risk of landslide so we can't live in it anymore. We need help with paying the bills, we're still paying mortgage and home ownership costs as well as rent so that's quite difficult," he said.
"We need help to make ends meet."
He also met with an MSD committee to discuss his situation this week.
"We're hoping to persuade them to change their decision, to allow us to receive that temp acc ass because we need it and we don't think that the rules that have been applied were either intended."
Minister of Social Development Louise Upston was not available for comment.