‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable residents face a battle to find food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters decline and short-lived 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 manager for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting individuals sleeping rough in flooded zones.

Her job 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 offered day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement however showers and laundry facilities run out commission till the flood damage is fixed.

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

“It has been really difficult attempting to get them any kind of shelter.”

She stated the homeless were searching for any dry locations they could sleep across a northern NSW region currently dealing with an alarming shortage of affordable housing.

“We have actually been assisting a whole household oversleeping their vehicle,” Ms Kennedy said.

“Seeing them in this horrendous weather is truly awful.”

The Byron Shire regional government location, 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 require options,” Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, health clubs and clubs might not serve as a long-lasting repair to entrenched housing issues in the region.

“I am fully familiar with the considerable difficulties for real estate in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not long-term services … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allotment,” he said.

The centres would close in all areas once regional emergency situation orders were lifted, Mr Minns added.

“So I want to apologise in advance however we need to draw a very clear and understood line.”

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

About 10,000 homes and businesses were still not connected to power as heavy rain continued to fall in many areas.

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

In Pottsville, between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was among the particles that washed up after big swells damaged the coastline for days.

Residents from 17 NSW local federal government locations who had lost earnings due to the storm would be qualified for federal disaster relief funds for as much as 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated the financial support would be backed by mental for affected locations.

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

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