The government is working with councils to offer a voluntary buyout of around 700 flood and cyclone affected homes, as well as funding work to protect up to 10,000 other houses.
The criteria for how properties will be valued, and the split of costs between councils and central Government will be ironed out in the coming weeks.
Professor John Tookey, School of Future Environments, AUT, comments:
“This is an excellent initiative to be welcomed. So long as a fair market valuation can be achieved, this initiative offers the opportunity to save the personal circumstances of the owners of an extensive number of properties.
“The recent weather events have rendered a substantial number of dwellings uninsurable across a significant proportion of the country. In much the same way as the EQC has to step in as the result of seismic events, we are going to need to look more broadly at some form of “national self insurance” scheme to deal with future such circumstances.
“Inevitably, as extreme weather events become more commonplace we will need to increasingly fund such approaches.”
No conflict of interest declared.