Communities respond to government's buyout plans for storm-hit homes

Flood ravaged West Aucklanders are rejoicing after the government announced it will offer buyout options to people whose land is too risky to rebuild on.

Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister Michael Wood on Thursday announced that the government was entering a co-funding arrangement with councils to buy out properties deemed high-risk, and to help pay for repairs on properties with a manageable risk.

Councils have now begun to put storm-hit homes in one of three categories: one - still safe to live in; two - can be lived in, provided flood mitigation work was done; or three - too dangerous to live in.

Of the roughly 700 homes that will not be rebuilt, around 400 are in Auckland.

Lyall Carter, chair of advocacy group West Auckland is Flooding, told Morning Report while there was no detail yet on what homeowners would be offered, the announcement was "historic" and broadly what the community had been asking for with managed retreat.

"It's a hope-filled announcement for us."

The general feeling of the community was one of "quiet optimism", he said, though he noted West Aucklanders had been raising issues about infrastructure - such as clogged streams - with the council for years, so there were some concerns about how the buyouts would be managed locally.

"There's a real mistrust that council can get this right."

Carter said a conversation would need to happen to explain to affected residents exactly how the rollout would be handled. That would be particularly important for those who were told they could remain, but whose properties required a level of risk management, he said.

Thought would also need to be given to how neighbourhoods that faced losing large numbers of houses under the plan could be kept safe from the likes of looters, he said.

"How do we maintain the integrity and the safety of those communities?"

Nonetheless, Carter said the plan did call for celebration.

"It's really momentous, not just for West Aucklanders but also for the country in the way in which we live with nature, not against it."

Progress, but 'hard discussions' still to be had

Ngāti Kahungunu chair Bayden Barber told Morning Report there was a lot of anxiety from whānau at a meeting in Napier on Thursday night about what the property buyout decision would mean for them.

He said while the plan was a "positive step", it would throw up a lot of questions for whānau who had lived on affected whenua Māori for generations.

Ngāti Kahungunu still has more than 100 whānau staying on marae, in emergency housing, motels and with relatives.

Barber said two marae were category three and would need to be moved.

"I think, in terms of moving forward, the fact that we're at this position is good because it's progress but [there are] a lot of hard discussions to be had, conversations to be had with communities."

He said not all whānau whose land was classified as category three under the plan would want to move.

"You're gonna get a range of responses to the policy… My kind of feel is that maps are drawn for a reason - although they say 'provisional', there's probably not going to be that much movement, maybe a bit on the edges but generally whānau that've been there forever, it'll be difficult to move them, I would think."

Barber the buyout being voluntary meant individuals, families and communities would need to weigh up the risks of choosing to stay on category three-classified land.

"If you stay, what does that mean? You're probably not going to get insurance next time a flood comes down... and you may potentially lose lives if you continue to stay there."

More information was needed on what the buyouts or land swaps would look like for those living on affected whenua Māori, which was often multiply-held and had been in families for many generations, he said.

"It's not about the money for them."

Concerted focus on reducing risk a 'silver lining' - Insurance Council

The Insurance Council has welcomed the government's buyout initiative as a step forward.

So far, there have been more than 100,000 insurance claims for both events, valued at $2.8 billion.

There will also be money for remediation and flood mitigation and protection work ahead of rebuilding for others.

Insurance Council chief executive Tim Grafton told Morning Report focusing on reducing risk in some areas was "the only sustainable way to respond to climate change impacts".

"If there's a silver lining to the dark clouds of these extreme weather events, it is that there's a concerted focus on reducing risk in high risk areas, and we welcome that."

He said it did not matter which category Hawke's Bay residents' properties had been put into - one, two, or three - their entitlements under their insurance policies remained up to the sum insured.

But category classifications would have some bearing on whether or not properties would be insurable in future, Grafton said.

It was "highly unlikely" that insurance would be available in future for residential property classified as category three and there was "a fair bit of uncertainty" for people whose properties were classified as category two, he said.

"Insurers will look at the mitigation measures that are occurring and that will inform their view of risk - each one has their own appetite for risk - and so terms and conditions could be applied around the insurance for properties in category two."

He said it was not yet known what the buyout offers to affected landowners would be, but the government had made clear that it did not want to create a moral hazard: "In other words, it doesn't want to create a situation where offers are so generous that it negates the need to insure your property."

Grafton recommended owners of category two and category three properties who received a cash settlement should "preserve" that money.

"Look after that cash settlement in order to help you on the path to recovery when you're clearer about the way ahead for yourself."

Morning Report asked Grant Robertson and Local government Minister Kieran McAnulty for an interview, but both declined.