‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable residents deal with a fight to discover food and dry to sleep when flood waters recede and short-lived shelters shut.

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

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies’ regional housing and homelessness manager for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting people 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 rainfall swamping the area.

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

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

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

She said the homeless were searching for any dry places they might sleep throughout a northern NSW area currently dealing with an alarming lack of budget-friendly real estate.

“We have actually been helping out an entire family sleeping in their car,” Ms Kennedy stated.

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

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 absolutely do have a real estate problem in the Northern Rivers and we require services,” Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns stated evacuation centres established in schools, universities, health clubs and clubs could not function as a long-term fix to established real estate problems in the area.

“I am fully aware of the significant challenges for real estate in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not long-term services … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allowance,” he stated.

The centres would close in all locations once local emergency situation orders were lifted, Mr Minns added.

“So I wish to apologise ahead of time but we need to draw a very clear and understood line.”

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

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

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

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

Residents from 17 NSW local federal government locations who had lost income due to the storm would be eligible for federal catastrophe relief funds for approximately 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday.

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

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

Lifeline 13 11 14

beyondblue 1300 22 4636