Multiple households are living at Kainga Ora's Te Matawai apartments in Auckland's city centre. Photo: Bill McKay
More than 100 Aucklanders are still living in temporary accommodation provided by the government's disaster service after last year's catastrophic storms.
Thirty-one families are living in hotel-apartments and eight households are living at Kainga Ora's Te Matawai apartments in the city centre.
The 39 whanau adds up to 118 people, who have been living in subsidised temporary accommodation for more than a year.
The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) says these are households who are either waiting for repairs to be finished on their homes, for insurance payouts, or for the council to categorise their property.
West Auckland Is Flooding chair Lyall Carter said there were still people living as nomads in their own city.
"These 39 families are a reminder that we can't leave anyone behind, and I'm not suggesting that we are but the more that time goes on the longer they're stuck in uncertainty," Carter said.
"That just adds to a feeling of anxiety when they're almost nomads in their own city."
- Are you living in an apartment under the Temporary Accommodation Service? Contact RNZ at: iwitness@radionz.co.nz
Carter said it was important these people can return to their communities.
"We know that the best scenario is for people to be back in their communities if they're able to be, to lessen the strain on families in the midst of a cost of living crisis."
Tasha Gray's Piha home was bought out after the storms and she advocates for other storm affected Aucklanders.
She said it was an anxious time for those waiting to return to their homes.
"You feel incredibly unstable, so many things are unknown while you're going through that categorisation process. I think maybe they might have kids in school, they might have a routine and maybe the best thing to be is in one place. Perhaps they don't feel like they have any other choices."
Gray said the Auckland rental market was tough for those on a tight budget, already paying a mortgage.
"It's really hard to find a rental in Auckland too. I suspect being up against the rental market is one big reason as well."
It is estimated 1000 Aucklanders are still displaced, many living with family, while 200 are getting an accommodation grant not linked to TAS.
TAS co-ordinates and provides heavily subsidised rental housing for those made homeless by an emergency and who are in financial hardship.
National manager Al Bruce said all those housed in Auckland apartments, including hotels, can stay there until they have another affordable place to live.
"TAS can continue to support households as long as they are working toward returning to the property they were displaced from," he said.
"Although TAS does not collate statistics on why households still require TAS support, TAS can confirm the most common reasons for Auckland households include waiting for repairs to be completed, insurance payouts to be granted and finalisation of the council land categorisation process."
Of the 39 households, 13 have been in TAS supplied accommodation since February 2023, 14 since March 2023 and 12 between April and November 2023.
Bruce said no cabins were put on properties because "more remote communities like Muriwai were impossible to reach".