Property & Build: Election 2023

Page 25

ELECTION 2023

Shortsightedness and poor planning lead to property buyouts The failure of successive councils and governments to prepare for inevitable flood events has left ratepayers and taxpayers burdened with bailing out the owners of weather-affected properties

T

he Government will enter into a funding arrangement with councils in cyclone and flood affected regions to support them to offer a voluntary buyout for owners of Category 3 designated residential properties. It will also co-fund work needed to protect Category 2 designated properties. Minister of Finance Grant Robertson says the facilitation work that the cyclone taskforce had been engaged in to undertake risk assessments has been completed. “From here the councils will lead engagement with their affected property-owners. This will help councils get the right solution in the right place and avoid significant financial hardship for property owners.” For properties designated Category 2 (where it is determined community and/ or property level interventions are feasible to manage future severe weather event risk) the Government will work with councils to help them build flood protection and other resilience measures. The initial support for this is already in place with $100 million initial funding announced in Budget 2023. People in homes designated as Category 3 properties

(where future severe weather event risk cannot be sufficiently mitigated) will be offered a voluntary buyout by councils – the costs of which will be shared

Finance Michael Wood says initial indications are that across all regions there will be about 700 Category 3 properties, and up to 10,000 homes in Category 2 areas.

between the Government and councils. “The focus of today is on residential properties. We are working with sectors, such as the horticulture sector on possible targeted support for commercial operators, and on regional plans that will provide overall support for recovery and rebuild,” Robertson says. A parallel process is also underway to engage with Māori, including on appropriate processes for whenua Māori. Engagement with those communities will be led by the Cyclone Response Unit, Te Arawhiti and local councils. The process will ensure that there are equitable outcomes for these communities. Associate Minister of

Robertson says there is no precedent for the response required, but there will be more events like this in the future. “As a Government we have to strike a careful fiscal balance between supporting affected communities and not making all taxpayers bear the cost.” This is a cost that could have been avoided if it were not for decades of underinvestment in infrastructure, poor planning and the shortsightedness of building homes in flood-prone areas without the necessary flood protections. Proactive, rather than reactive policy is what is needed here. Robertson may call this year’s extreme weather events unprece-

dented, but they were not unexpected. Last year, then Associate Minister of Local Government Kieran McAnulty received a report titled Vulnerable Communities Exposed to Flood Hazard. “This report identifies 44 communities that have a high level of socio-economic vulnerability and are exposed to flood hazard, are not planning to build flood protection infrastructure according to council LTPs, and communities in the wider district may have limited financial capacity to fund responses to flood risk,” it says. “More than half of the vulnerable communities exposed to flood hazard are in the upper half of the North Island.” This is not a new problem, with the report making reference to the July 2021 flooding of Westport, which revealed the challenging mix of flood hazard and financial limitations the community and councils face. The report spelled out to the Government that what happened in Westport could happen in the North Island unless action was taken. That action is at last being taken, but it is too little, too late. propertyandbuild.com 25


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Articles inside

Hard work gets results

0
pages 62-63

Chemical safety relies on meaningful cooperation

1min
page 61

How to attract, retain and support good staff

8min
pages 56-60

The great unlearning

5min
pages 54-55

The perfect combination of quality assurance, high stock levels and expertise

1min
pages 52-53

No better investment than chemical safety training

2min
page 51

Ensuring adequate respiratory protection

1min
pages 48-50

NZ workplace fatality rate is double Australia’s

2min
pages 46-47

Industry leader in soft fall protection on construction sites

1min
page 45

Physical threats & abuse widespread in construction

1min
page 44

Was the Covid-19 wage subsidy successful?

4min
pages 42-43

Are you maximising the benefits of your AEP?

5min
pages 40-41

How BIM Will Impact Your Future Infrastructure Projects

2min
page 38

Construction partnership aims to accelerate growth sectorwide

1min
pages 36-37

A collaborative way forward for infrastructure & construction

4min
pages 34-36

How will new energy standards affect Australia’s building sector?

2min
pages 32-33

Proven efficiency

1min
page 31

Safer, faster, multipurpose telehandlers

1min
pages 30-31

What does the future look like for housing in New Zealand?

7min
pages 26-29

Shortsightedness and poor planning lead to property buyouts

3min
pages 25-26

New Zealand cities losing their leaves

1min
page 24

National’s new housing strategy mixed bag’

5min
pages 22-24

Foreign buyer housing policy grabs attention of offshore billionaires

5min
pages 20-22

Kiwi innovation leading the way in concrete slab insulation

2min
pages 19-20

Would a land value tax incentivise housing growth

3min
pages 18-19

Development activity falling as headwinds intensify

4min
pages 16-17

Rental stock reaching crisis levels

2min
page 15

House prices up for first time since downturn

11min
pages 10-14

Commercial property insights Q2 2023

3min
pages 8-9

SLAB 200 HIGH PERFORMANCE 200kPa RATED INSULATION FOR CONCRETE SLABS

0
page 7

Reserve Bank taking ‘wait and see’ approach

1min
page 6

Is our electoral system undemocratic

1min
pages 4-5

Site Safe New Zealand launch VR training courses for New

2min
pages 2-4
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.