Cyclone-impacted Hawke's Bay homeowners critical of 50-50 buyouts

Homeowners affected by Cyclone Gabrielle feel the 50-50 buyout of red-zoned homes is "unfair".

The Government and Hawke's Bay's councils have agreed to share the costs of buying Category 3 homes. The Government will be contributing half the net cost in an agreement which could be worth up to $556 million.

To make up the full cost, however, rate rises look likely.

Esk Valley resident Daniel Gale told 1News it's unfair for the whole district to be paying the price.

"I don't think it's particularly fair for the remaining ratepayers of the district to foot the bill or half the bill for what happened out here," he said.

"I'd like to see the Government come to the party a bit more."

Fellow Esk Valley residents Katrina Harris and Maureen Dorr are in temporary accommodation with their family waiting for a buyout.

Their doggy daycare business and home now sits on a site with towers of silt.

"Oh it's awful. You just don't know where you're at, you don't know what your future is going to hold. You can't make decisions because you do not know when things are going to happen or how much you're going to settle with, so you can't sort of plan anything.

"It's really hard," Harris said.

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said she would have preferred more from the Government.

"Our preference would've been 100 per cent funded by the Crown as they did in Christchurch, so we were disappointed when we were offered the 50-50 and that was never up for negotiation either. That was the deal from day one."

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the Government couldn't pay for everything.

"We think it's a fair position, particularly when you sit it alongside the other support that we're doing — the flood protection work, the transport work that we've agreed with Hawke's Bay.

"We obviously want to support people who've been affected in these areas but we've also got wider obligations to the rest of the country."

The $556 million agreement is made up of:

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