After the buyout of storm damaged homes, Auckland Council is beginning the process of removing hundreds of properties. Video / Alex Burton
Lyall Carter, chairman of West Auckland is Flooding, has sold his Category 3 home to Auckland Council.
Council figures show 319 of 862 eligible properties have settled for an average of $1 million.
The next stage of ‘deconstruction’ has begun, with 42 homes removed so far.
Lyall Carter pulled up in his car at the end of a cul-de-sac at Rānui in West Auckland the other day to find a brown patch of dirt where his neighbour’s house had once stood.
“It’s bizarre. Nature has pushed her way into where my friends once lived.They had a beautiful garden and took real deep care of their home,” he told the Herald.
Lyall Carter is the chairman of West Auckland is Flooding (Waif), set up to help residents find fair and sustainable solutions after furious torrents of water turned their lives upside down during last year’s deadly floods.
He’s also among the growing number of homeowners who have sold their Category 3 homes to Auckland Council, handed over the keys and said their goodbyes before their properties are taken away, recycled or become a pile of rubble.
Carter said it was strange coming back to Camphora Place after moving to the Pōhutukawa Coast in East Auckland in mid-September.
“Our home is going to be reused, which is fantastic. It was our first house. We poured a lot of love into it. We renovated it. We brought both of our kids home from Waitākere Hospital to the house. There are a lot of precious memories.
“We had neighbours who were like family. We have been through a lot together. What you don’t see is the mental and emotional toll on our community.
“To think it is disbanding after the advocacy of our group and many other groups and individuals to get our voices back, our autonomy back, and to write our new future,” he said.
Half the homes at Camphora Place in Rānui are being removed. Photo / Alex Burton
Camphora Place is losing half its houses backing on to today’s tame Momutu Stream, which started seeping on to Carter’s property on January 27 last year, and 30 minutes later was gushing over a 2m-high fence before settling just below floor level.
The Carter family house is in good condition and is being moved because it meets the Category 3 criteria of “an intolerable risk to life” due to a lack of an escape route in a future storm.
Council flood recovery boss Craig Hobbs said nearly 7400 homes were initially affected by last year’s floods.
The house removal process is under way in Camphora Place. Photo / Alex Burton
About 3500 of those homes have opted into the category process, of which 862 so far have been found to have an intolerable risk to life from future storms (Category 3) and are eligible for a buyout.
Of those, 319 have settled for an average of about $1 million, and the next stage of “deconstruction” has begun, with 42 homes removed so far.
Hobbs said the first question of the reconstruction process is whether a house can be relocated and, if not, how much of the house can be salvaged and recycled.
A house in Camphora Place is taken apart for materials to be recycled. Photo / Alex Burton
If that’s not possible for health and safety reasons or contamination issues, the house might be partially or fully demolished, he said.
The council is undecided on what to do with the parcels of land it will own once the houses are removed, but some land might be left for blue-green projects, others could become community parks, and some land might be redeveloped.
Hobbs said the council was still working on risk-based plans for the future of the land that are expected to be completed by early next year.
The council has a $760 million programme, Making Space for Water, to reopen natural waterways in place of pipes to reduce the impact of future storms.
The first project is in Māngere and Muriwai, places among those hit hardest during the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.
Debbie Benioni had to leave her Māngere home of 19 years and lost nearly all her possessions in the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods. The council is spending $53 million to reduce the flooding risk of 244 properties in the South Auckland suburb. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The $53m project in Māngere is focused on the Te Ararata and Harania catchments and includes replacing embankments with a new landscaped and planted stream. The works will reduce the flood risk of 244 properties.
Last month, Cabinet approved a request from the council for an Order in Council to fast-track the two projects to begin immediately and be completed by March 2028.
Carter said from his experience, the buyout process had been pretty seamless and there was good communication from the companies doing the work.
However, he said, there was still an issue with a small group of people who had found themselves in negative equity in the buyout process.
Under the process, independent valuers set the prices the council offers homeowners based on what they believe a property’s value would have been on January 26, 2023 – the day before the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods.
Homeowners are entitled to $5000 from the council for independent valuations, and financial and legal advice.
The homeowner is expected to make a 5% contribution of the valuation if the house is insured, or 20% if it is uninsured, and the final payment is less any insurance payout.
Carter said the council should help people in negative equity, partly because of its inability to look after the infrastructure that flooded their properties.
The Momutu Stream turned into a roaring torrent and flooded homes in Camphora Place. Photo / Alex Burton
He said about 33 properties throughout Auckland could find themselves in negative equity, the largest of which he heard of was $100,000 – making the total payout about $3m.
Clearing that debt would remove a massive millstone from around people’s necks and Aucklanders would support this, Carter said.
The council said the estimated number of 30 came from work Te Atatū MP Phil Twyford had done with the property data firm CoreLogic, saying it had come across only a small number of people in negative equity.
Hobbs said the buyout process intended to save people from intolerable risk to life.
“You have got to feel for them ... but it’s not about reimbursing people for their financial loss, unfortunately.
“The banks have ultimate control over the financial position their customers end up in, as the lender and co-beneficiary of any taxpayer/ratepayer-funded buyout,” he said.
Bernard Orsman is an award-winning reporter who has been covering Auckland’s local politics and transport since 1998. Before that, he worked in the parliamentary press gallery for six years.
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