Auckland storm recovery office closes, calls for shift to prevention

The Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Office will close at the end of June, releasing its final reports on the $2 billion storm recovery and setting out what needs to change to reduce the scale and cost of future recoveries.

The challenges Auckland faced, repairing damage and helping people make themselves safe, are being felt right across the country. One of its final reports, Unlocking Recovery, draws on three years of work to show what a large-scale recovery really takes and costs, while setting out practical options for shifting focus from recovery to preparedness and risk reduction.

"There is no shortage of agreement nationally that a big change is needed," says Mace Ward, Group Recovery Manager. "Auckland has a lot of experience to offer."

Over the past decade, the number of states of emergency declared in New Zealand has nearly quadrupled as severe weather has become more frequent and intense. Recovering from a disaster costs a lot more than anyone ever plans for, and by the end of 2034 the full costs for this recovery are expected to reach $2.5bn. Across New Zealand, about 97 per cent of government spending on natural hazards since 2010 has gone on responding and recovering after events, and only about 3 per cent on reducing the risk in advance.

The office's report sets out twelve recommendations, with key themes covering: investing more in prevention, giving people better options to reduce their risk, and - when severe weather strikes - improving support systems for those most affected.

Invest in prevention

This recovery has reinforced that it's significantly more cost-effective to prevent damage than to repair it. For example, Auckland Transport found that on its roads alone, preventing storm damage can cost as little as 15 to 30 per cent of repairing it. That means an investment of $670 million in prevention over ten years could avoid between $2.2 and $4.4 billion in future recovery costs.

To support this, the council has changed how it maintains and invests in its networks including using smart maintenance and monitoring technology to catch problems early and target upgrades, while looking at a smart 30-year stormwater plan through the Making Space for Water programme.

Mr Ward says the case for prevention is clear, though the challenge is balancing current and future needs.

"Big new projects matter, but the boring stuff is also critical," Mr Ward cautions. "Investing in resilience makes good business sense, and we must look after the assets we already have to make sure they can weather future storms. A good place to start is embedding resilience prioritisation in council Long-term plans and national budgets."

Safer homes for people

Prevention is about more than infrastructure. It's about homes too. The report proposes a national resilient homes programme to support practical risk-reduction measures at homes, from simple steps like clearing overland flow paths, through to more significant work like raising floor levels or stabilising land.

"Buying the highest-risk homes was the single largest cost of the recovery, at more than $1.25 billion. But there are still a lot of people remaining in challenging situations. While we can't change where homes are already built, there is more that can be done to make existing homes safer", says Mr Ward.

He says a broader mix of support and incentives would give people better information and options while reducing long-term costs.

Support for everyone

In a severe weather event, support and information do not reach everyone equally. Many recovery processes are built around property owners, even though renters and vulnerable residents were often just as affected, and in some cases were less aware of the risks they were living with.

The Recovery Office's navigation service was there for Aucklanders, not just those in official processes, and drew on central government and not-for-profit funding to help with everything from furniture to relocation. Having this service and funding ready to stand up in future recoveries will make a big difference for everyone impacted.

"Recovery can't just be for the people who own their homes," Mr Ward urges. Some of the renters we worked with had lost all their household items, and a few were still sleeping on the floor up to a year later. We often found that they were also the least informed about risk, at their home, and in some cases had been purposely kept in the dark about this information. Most landlords did the right thing, but renters shouldn't have to rely on goodwill to find out a home is unsafe.

"We are asking the government to look at tenancy settings so prospective tenants get a clear picture of risk before they sign."