Gympie residents, especially those around One Mile ovals may have noticed that some of their particularly flood affected neighbours have literally pulled up stumps with the demolition or removal of a number of homes.
There have been four homes demolished or removed, to be exact, in the Gympie Local Government Area, identified as those most at risk of being flooded in the future by the Queensland Recovery Authority as part of the Voluntary Home Buy-Back program.
In all 44 homes were inspected by the QRA, after being identified by the Gympie Regional Council, as at risk with 19 home owners being presented with offers as part of the VHBB program.
Of those, according to a spokesperson from the QRA, 12 home owners accepted the offers, with seven of those contracts settled.
The spokesperson said the VHBB program was designed to purchase homes as part of the Resilient Homes Fund through Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
“Voluntary home buy-back has been identified for homes that were the most severely impacted and at the greatest risk of future flooding,“ the QRA spokesperson said.
“The Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) engaged directly with all impacted councils about the VHBB program to gather flood data and information to identify the most at-risk and vulnerable applicants.
“For properties in Gympie, QRA worked with Gympie Regional Council to identify properties for the program.
“Homeowners receive two valuations of the property, including a pre-flood and current market value.
“The offer will be the higher of these, ensuring homeowners receive a fair price for their home,“ the spokesperson said.
“Once an agreement is reached, the property and the land will be purchased by the local council and the building demolished.
“In certain circumstances, the building may be removed from site.
“The land is then re-zoned to an appropriate, non-occupied use such as green space by the relevant local council,“ the spokesperson said.
Registrations for the Resilient Homes Fund are now closed.
