‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable citizens deal with a battle to find food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters decline and momentary shelters shut.

Nearly 800 people have sought refuge 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 flooded 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 consistent rains inundating the space.

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

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

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

She stated the homeless were attempting to find any dry places they might sleep across a northern NSW area currently handling an alarming lack of affordable real estate.

“We’ve been assisting a whole family oversleeping their car,” Ms Kennedy said.

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

The Byron Shire local 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 stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns stated evacuation centres established in schools, universities, gyms and clubs could not serve as a long-lasting fix to entrenched housing issues in the region.

“I am completely aware of the substantial challenges for housing in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not irreversible solutions … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation,” he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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