Auckland City Rail Link: Only $500k of $12 million hardship fund paid to businesses
Thursday, 17 February 2022
Only $500,000 out of a $12 million hardship fund has been paid out to businesses struggling due to the City Rail Link (CRL) construction project.
The fund was announced by Transport Minister Michael Wood and Auckland mayor Phil Goff in September after media highlighted the plight of nearby businesses as construction noise, dust, and disruption drove shoppers and diners away.
As of the end of January, 118 applications had been received under an interim payment scheme and the full Targeted Hardship Fund which was launched in October.
To date, 51 applications had been approved, with $499,149 being paid out. The highest amount was $39,258 and the smallest $1501.
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Shobhaa Ranchhodji, the owner of flower shop Roma Blooms, said 25 of the 40 businesses in the City Rail Link C3 contract area had not applied yet, as shop owners wanted two changes made to the scheme.
Those included backdating payments to February 2019 and having assurance from the Government that they would continue to be looked after until the project was finished in 2024, she said.
“We’re asking for something very little because many of the businesses that have been here, came in here before the project started.”
She said the Government wouldn’t budge on the February 2021 date for back payments.
CRL chief executive Sean Sweeney told Parliament’s Transport Select Committee last Friday the organisation was doing the “best it could” to encourage people to apply.
“The payments are without prejudice and don’t foreclose their rights on anything in the future or to make a claim they see fit,” Sweeney said.
“We are making it clear that a fund has been set up to pay them. Our aim is to follow the guidelines we have been given and pay out.”
Because the payments were much larger under the full scheme than the interim, CRL required significantly more information from applicants, he said.
A total of 43 applications had been declined as they did not meet the eligibility criteria, he said.
The main reasons were that a business did not fall within the “affected area,” it started up in the area after works started, or there was a lack of evidence of financial hardship, Sweeney said.
“The scheme was very clear [when] it talked about genuine severe financial hardship, it was not set up for inconvenience, disturbance or noise. It is for genuine financial hardship.”
To qualify for the fund, a business needed to be situated “immediately adjacent” to the construction, have suffered legitimate financial hardship, and began operating in the affected area before October 2019.
In December, Heart of the City called for an independent review of the hardship fund as business owners were disillusioned by the scheme not delivering for them.
Its chief executive Viv Beck said things were getting desperate.
“We're trying to get an outcome as quickly as possible because they need this money,” she said.
“They are really hoping that the Government and Auckland Council will take a fair approach here and be prepared to review those decisions.”