Helping flood-devastated homeowners get their lives back on track following Cyclone Gabrielle drove the Hastings and Napier Voluntary Buy-out Programme, a pioneering model for disaster recovery in New Zealand.
The country’s first ‘Locally led – Crown and Council funded’ approach to a voluntary buy-out of homes in areas deemed too dangerous to live in was planned, implemented and completed within 14 months – only possible due to the close collaboration and timely decision-making by the affected councils: Napier City Council and Hastings District Council alongside their Crown partners, and enabled by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council rapid and rigorous land classification process.
Critical was keeping the end game top of mind: Providing options for traumatised people needing to make life-changing decisions at a time when they were at their most vulnerable. The process needed to be flood-victim focused, empathetic, and scrupulously and demonstrably fair – while fitting into the funding envelope provided by the Crown and councils.
The groundbreaking initiative has since become the template for similar programs across New Zealand, with Gisborne, Nelson, and Wairarapa councils adapting the framework for their own recovery efforts.
The programme has achieved remarkable success, with 89 per cent of eligible property owners accepting buy-out offers within the year – with now only a handful still considering the offer provided.
