‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable locals deal with a fight to discover food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters recede and temporary shelters shut.

Nearly 800 individuals have looked for 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 housing and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has actually been on the front lines supporting people sleeping rough in 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 rains swamping the space.

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

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

“It has been actually tough attempting to get them any type of shelter.”

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

“We have actually been assisting an entire household sleeping in their vehicle,” Ms Kennedy said.

“Seeing them in this horrendous weather condition is actually horrible.”

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 federal government street count.

“We absolutely do have a housing problem in the Northern Rivers and we require services,” Ms Kennedy said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns stated evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, health clubs and clubs might not serve as a long-term repair to entrenched real estate problems in the area.

“I am fully conscious of the substantial difficulties for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not irreversible options … we don’t have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allowance,” he said.

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

“So I wish to apologise beforehand however we have to draw a very clear and understood line.”

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

About 10,000 homes and services were still not connected to power as heavy rain continued to fall in lots of 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 amongst the particles that washed up after big swells battered the coastline for days.

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

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the financial backing would be backed by mental health services for impacted locations.

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

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