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‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable homeowners face a battle to find food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters decline and temporary shelters shut.

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

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies’ regional housing and homelessness manager for northeast NSW, has actually been on the front lines supporting people 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 continuous rainfall swamping the area.

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 been a horrendous time for the homeless neighborhood,” Ms Kennedy told AAP.

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

She said the homeless were searching for any dry places they could sleep throughout a northern NSW region currently dealing with an alarming lack of cost effective real estate.

“We’ve been helping out an entire family sleeping in their cars and truck,” Ms Kennedy said.

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

The Byron Shire regional federal 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 absolutely do have a real estate problem in the Northern Rivers and we require solutions,” Ms Kennedy said.

Chris Minns stated evacuation centres established in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs might not function as a long-term repair to entrenched housing issues in the region.

“I am totally conscious of the considerable difficulties 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 allowance,” he said.

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

“So I want to apologise beforehand but we need to draw an extremely clear and understood line.”

More than 10,000 individuals 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 linked to power as heavy rain continued to fall in numerous areas.

Major flood warnings were still in place 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 debris that washed up after substantial swells damaged the coastline for days.

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

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

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

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