THE wait is finally over for the many Ipswich residents who lost everything in the February floods.
The funds have now flowed into the council bank account enabling them to move on the Resilient Homes Fund Voluntary Home Buy Back Program.
Jointly funded through Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), the resilience program is the largest of its kind to ever be delivered in Australia.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said the Queensland Reconstruction Authority has provided council with initial funding of $22 million under the scheme so it can begin to purchase homes that have accepted an offer.
It means Enid Street residents such as Frank Beaumont (pictured) and Allan Kunst can finally move out of the shells they were left with after flood waters ripped through their homes.
Cr Paul Tully has led the fight for the owners and won the battle for the homes to be assessed at their pre-flood value.
Mayor Harding said she had been advised that 15 homeowners had currently accepted offers from the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) and council would now start the process of conveyancing and preparing for settlement.
“Some properties will be settled before Christmas.
These houses will then be demolished in due course, with the land being re-zoned for non-habitable uses in accordance with Council’s obligations under the Resilient Homes Fund criteria.
“This process will continue to roll out over coming months as the state government continues to work through the assessment and valuation process for properties that have registered for the Voluntary Home Buy-Back program.
“If the property meets the eligibility criteria, a valuation is completed, and an offer is presented to the homeowner.
Once they are accepted, the state will pass them on to council to buy the homes.”
So far, 476 Ipswich homeowners have registered with the Resilient Homes Fund, with 186 of those registering for the voluntary buy-back.
There have been 32 offers presented by the QRA to those homeowners in the first round and the QRA are now moving to the second round of offers in coming weeks.
There have been 106 Ipswich homeowners register for the resilient retrofit and 93 homes registered to have their homes raised.
