‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable homeowners face a battle to discover food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters decline and momentary shelters shut.

Nearly 800 people have actually sought refuge in NSW evacuation centres however their status as pop-up homes for some will disappear after the effect of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies’ regional housing and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has actually been on the front lines supporting individuals sleeping rough in flooded zones.

Her task was made harder on Monday due to damage to Fred’s Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with constant rainfall swamping the area.

On any provided day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need but showers and laundry centers are out of commission till the flood damage is fixed.

“It has actually been a horrendous time for the homeless neighborhood,” Ms Kennedy told AAP.

“It has been really challenging attempting to get them any type of shelter.”

She stated the homeless were looking for any dry places they could sleep across a northern NSW area already dealing with an alarming scarcity of inexpensive real estate.

“We’ve been assisting out an entire household oversleeping their vehicle,” Ms Kennedy said.

“Seeing them in this horrendous weather condition is really awful.”

The Byron Shire city government area, south of Tweed Heads, had the most rough sleepers of any council location in the state, according to a 2024 government street count.

“We absolutely do have a real estate problem in the Northern Rivers and we need solutions,” Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns stated evacuation centres established in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs might not function as a long-term repair to established real estate problems in the region.

“I am completely knowledgeable about the substantial challenges for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not long-term options … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allowance,” he said.

The centres would close in all locations once local emergency situation orders were raised, Mr Minns included.

“So I wish to apologise ahead of time but we need to draw a really clear and understood line.”

More than 10,000 people were under emergency situation warnings in NSW on Monday early morning, while 1800 people were separated by floodwaters.

About 10,000 homes and organizations were still not linked to power as heavy rain continued to fall in many locations.

Major flood warnings were still in location for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under way in other places.

In Pottsville, between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was among the debris that cleaned up after big the coastline for days.

Residents from 17 NSW local federal government locations who had lost income due to the storm would be eligible for federal catastrophe relief funds for up to 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated the financial backing would be backed by psychological health services for affected areas.

“We’ve got your back, that’s my message to communities here,” he said from Lismore on Monday.

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