‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable homeowners deal with a battle to find food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters decline and short-term shelters shut.

Nearly 800 people have sought refuge in NSW evacuation centres but 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 supervisor for northeast NSW, has been on the front lines supporting people sleeping rough in .

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 rains flooding the area.

On any provided day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need but showers and laundry facilities are out of commission till the flood damage is repaired.

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

“It has actually been really difficult trying to get them any type of shelter.”

She stated the homeless were searching for any dry locations they might sleep across a northern NSW region already handling an alarming scarcity of budget-friendly real estate.

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

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

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

“We definitely do have a housing issue in the Northern Rivers and we require services,” Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns stated evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs might not act as a long-lasting fix to entrenched housing issues in the region.

“I am fully familiar with the significant obstacles for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not long-term options … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation,” he stated.

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

“So I desire to apologise in advance however we have to draw a really clear and understood line.”

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

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

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

In Pottsville, in between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was among the debris that washed up after substantial swells battered the shoreline for days.

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

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

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

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