The chair of Tatau Tatau o Te Wairoa, Leon Symes, says if the Government wants to recycle money for the flood clean up it should also dip into its social housing budget.
The post settlement organisation is helping more than 50 whanau affected by last month’s flood, including housing some in pods moved in last year in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.
So far the Government has given the council just $600,000 in new money and told it to use $3 million for silt removal from the $10 million allocated to the Hawke’s Bay after Gabrielle.
Mr Symes says his trust has asked for $8 million from the social housing pool so it can set up temporary accommodation.
“So we’re not asking for new money. We’re asking for reallocation of existing budget. We can recycle this and solve two problems at once – a bit of a social housing problem in Wairoa, there has always been social housing issues – let’s just speed these processes up, get some money where it’s needed, provide some temporary accommodation and then cycle that money into social housing,” he says.
Meanwhile, an independent review has been stated into the Wairoa flood response.
Environment Minister, Penny Simmonds says the Government is committed to addressing the concerns of the Wairoa community about the management of the Wairoa River bar and the impact this had on flooding of properties in the district.
The review is expected to take around four weeks, with findings and recommendations to be presented to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Wairoa District Council and Tātau Tātau o Te Wairoa Trust in August.
