Elevating Gisborne’s flood-prone homes not foolproof, homeowners warned

Nearly 150 houses are in the Elevating Tairāwhiti Fund category and 64 owners of those have applied so far, Gisborne District Council's Civil Defence emergency management committee has been told. Council recovery programme manager Rod Sheridan said: "That extra 500mm may be the difference between getting out of the house safely or not ...” Photo / Liam Clayton

Owners of flood-threatened homes to be elevated an extra 500mm by Gisborne District Council have been warned.

“We are protecting the house, not the people,” the council’s recovery programme manager Rod Sheridan told the Civil Defence emergency management committee last week.

Sheridan’s comment was a blunt warning for residents following storm events and predictions of more to come.

“That extra 500mm may be the difference between getting out of the house safely or not ...”

Sheridan said 147 houses were in the Elevating Tairāwhiti Fund category and 64 homeowners had applied.

Of those 147, 33 homeowners were working with Te Aitanga a Māhaki and 50 were going through feasibility studies.

The council was scheduled to own 13 Category 3 (uninhabitable) houses by the end of this week.

Sheridan said there were 66 Category 3 buyout properties in the region, including 12 whenua Māori homes.

The whenua Māori process had not yet been confirmed.

Thirteen property owners had agreed to sell and another 23 were working through the process, he said.

“We’ve got to start a demolition process with those houses. Only six of those 53 houses are actually moveable off-site.

“We’ve still got 47 houses that require demolition across the town.”

Feedback had generally been good, with most people accepting the process and being supportive of the council, he said.

Two homeowners had sought independent valuation and he expected there to be a third one.

Independent valuations resulting in higher valuations were a risk to the Future of Severely Affected Land (Fosal) programme, he said.

One such property owner previously told Local Government Reporting the council’s valuer had valued his property $300,0000 lower that two independent valuers he had contracted.

No funding was available to support Category 2P property owners on unstable land, but the council was working on the issue with the Government, Sheridan said,

It was possible funding to raise houses could be used to support 2P property owners.

The number of 2P properties was decreasing as some land stabilised.

The council was looking for temporary homes for people while their homes were being raised, and was seeking assistance from Government departments.

Applications for the Commercial Sediment and Debris Fund had closed, with the Government providing an extra $6.5 million in funding.

Sheridan said 97 per cent of all applicants had been paid.

“That was a great result for us.”