‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable locals face a fight to find food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters decline and short-term shelters shut.

Nearly 800 people have actually looked for haven in NSW evacuation centres however their status as pop-up homes for some will stop to exist after the effect of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies’ regional real estate and homelessness manager for northeast NSW, has been on the front lines supporting individuals sleeping rough in .

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 flooding the space.

On any offered day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need however showers and laundry centers run out commission until the flood damage is repaired.

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

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

She said the homeless were searching for any dry places they could sleep across a northern NSW region currently dealing with an alarming shortage of budget-friendly housing.

“We’ve been helping out an entire family oversleeping their vehicle,” Ms Kennedy stated.

“Seeing them in this horrendous weather is really dreadful.”

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

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

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

“I am completely familiar with the considerable obstacles for housing in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not long-term options … we don’t have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation,” he said.

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

“So I desire to apologise beforehand but we need to draw a really clear and understood line.”

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

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

Major flood cautions were still in place for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under method elsewhere.

In Pottsville, in between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was amongst the particles that cleaned up after substantial swells battered the coastline for days.

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

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

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

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