A fleet of portable cabins has arrived in Auckland to house people displaced in the anniversary weekend flooding.<\/p>\n
The Temporary Accommodation Service now has 2164 households registered as needing a roof over their heads, of which just over half are in Auckland.<\/p>\n
Its head of accommodation response Steve Watson said 23 portable cabins have arrived in the city for deployment.<\/p>\n
“We’re trying, where possible, to place the cabins as close to the communities that are affected as possible and that’s because the families who will be seeking to live in these cabins, live in those communities, often go to school there and it’s related to their employment as well.”<\/p>\n
He said the service was still working through how many portable cabins would be needed, but that there was a good supply available.<\/p>\n
Four portable cabins were also being deployed to a marae in Hawke’s Bay where 520 households have registered as needing temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n
The service has 161 registrations from Tai R\u0101whiti, 54 from Northland and 29 from Waikato.<\/p>\n
In Auckland, 1179 households have registered and Watson said all options are being considered, including motorhomes and renting apartments.<\/p>\n
Longer term, the service was looking for land on which to build a temporary village.<\/p>\n
“That is a very complex and difficult situation because there is not a lot of land available in Auckland,” Watson said.<\/p>\n
“We’re working with local authorities and the Housing and Urban Development Ministry and local iwi to find suitable land. It is a very complex and not a quick process.”<\/p>\n
Relocating flood affected people to another town or city was on the table as a last resort, he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s an option that we would offer as a last resort. It is not a preferred option for many of our clients for the obv [sic] reasons that they wish to stay close to their schools. We would never force anybody to do that.”<\/p>\n