Transposing costs and potential displacement impacts

Tēnā koe,

Ka nui te mihi to Ngāti Toa Rangatira as the custodians of the whenua, Te Awarua-ō-Porirua and Te Moana-ō-Raukawa. Kei Hongoeka Bay ahau e noho ana.

It is understood that the 3 Waters initiative is stood down, and statutory responsibilities have been shifted to local authorities in addition to meeting all the legislative requirements. That is a brutal hospital pass onto all councils and extremely hard on PCC kaimahi.

It is universally understood climate events occur. Many of us are living near slips, and have been affected by flooding, and witnessed the structural harm from king tides. Huge mihi to the PCC kaimahi who have been working on these issues - they are often more complex than is evident unless you have a GIS system.

Similarly our collective responsibilities for reducing household and workplace emissions are very well understood across all spaces.

It would be good to understand what specifically is meant by 'transforming' rubbish, recycling and waste management. This information may be articulated in the 2023 District Plan but not many people have capacity for reading lengthy reports seemingly written for surveying or GIS engineering professionals, rather than the target audience who may spend 2-3 minutes on PCC web links.

It is unsustainable to potentially impose 17.5% PCC rates increases, plus the proposed GWRCC rate increase of 19.8%. This means a potential combined 37.3% rates increase per household.

This is an unsustainable cost to households which are already experiencing static salaries, wage freezes, job and food insecurity, and potential managed retreat due to slips, and rising coastal and estuary levels.

There is a high probability the very households PCC are seeking revenue from are more likely to move away - fracturing securely attached community relationships, reducing staffing for PCC infrastructure, health/mental health/maternity education and social services projects, toi Māori/Pasifika creative arts delivered across communities, sports, faith-based services, and particularly eroding care arrangements for disabled and older persons with mobility issues.

The human rights risk is PCC unintentionally displaces 62,400 people (source - Infometrics 2023 Porirua population data) who can no longer afford to stay in the place they used to call their home.

This would reduce PCC revenue from any proposed new builds. The PR optics for PCC are suboptimal. If there is no community able to afford it - who will build, or rent or elect to move here?

The current government reviewed the RMA legislation in 2023. The rate the legislative change was raced to the third reading appears to ignore hydraulic neutrality, whenua restoration, spatial, quality of soil and people impacts, and seems to only benefit property developers; not potential Porirua renters or buyers.

It will be interesting to see Ngāti Toa Rangatira Rūnanga latest response to the PCC proposal as Kaitiaki across this rohe with 200+years of shared experiences and wisdom.

My aspiration is that PCC receives many innovative submissions that support thriving communities with sustainable housing for current and future generations.

Thank you for reading my submission.

Āku mihi,

Charmaine