Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise. Photo: RNZ / Tom Kitchin
People who were renting yellow- and red-stickered homes in Napier are now eligible for a one-off $2000 payment from the city's Mayoral Relief Fund.
The payments were previously only available for owners of the 125 properties stickered following Cyclone Gabrielle.
But Mayor Kirsten Wise announced on Thursday she and chief executive Louise Miller had approved $2000 payments for tenants, too.
She was relying on the grapevine to get the word out.
"This is slightly more challenging because we don't have their contact details.
"However, I have reached out to my contacts within those impacted communities who have been taking on leadership roles in those communities, and asked them to spread the word essentially."
People would need to provide evidence of their tenancy when applying for their payment, she said.
Councillor Nigel Simpson said he was pleased the money was being made available without people having to ask.
"Tenants as well as property owners have had significant losses, and even though this is a small amount, it's important that we do it as expediently as we can."
Aside from the payments to stickered property owners, only $6457 had been paid out from the Mayoral Relief Fund, which went towards diesel for clean-up machinery.
Two more payments had been promised - $25,000 for a basketball court at Petane Domain to foster community connectivity and wellbeing, and $2000 for Radio Hawke's Bay event marketing.
That left just over $136,000 in the pot - although the payments announced today would eat away at that, but it was unclear by how much.
Wise called on the community to come forward if they had ideas on what the remaining cash should be spent on.
