‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable citizens face a fight to discover food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters recede and short-lived shelters shut.

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

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies’ local real estate and homelessness manager 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 harm to Fred’s Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with consistent rains inundating the space.

On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement but showers and laundry centers are out of commission until the flood damage is repaired.

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

“It has been truly challenging attempting to get them any kind of shelter.”

She stated the homeless were searching for any dry locations they might sleep throughout a northern NSW region currently dealing with a dire scarcity of budget friendly housing.

“We have actually been assisting a whole household oversleeping their cars and truck,” Ms Kennedy stated.

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

The Byron Shire regional 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 definitely do have a real estate issue in the Northern Rivers and we require solutions,” Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, gyms and clubs could not function as a long-lasting repair to established real estate issues in the area.

“I am totally familiar with the significant obstacles for housing in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not irreversible solutions … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation,” he said.

The centres would close in all areas once local emergency orders were lifted, Mr Minns included.

“So I want to apologise in advance but we have to draw an extremely clear and understood line.”

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

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

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

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

Residents from 17 NSW regional federal government areas who had actually lost earnings due to the storm would be qualified for federal disaster relief funds for approximately 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the monetary assistance would be backed by psychological health services for impacted areas.

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

Lifeline 13 11 14

beyondblue 1300 22 4636