‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable residents face a battle to discover food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters recede and momentary shelters shut.

Nearly 800 people have sought haven 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’ local real estate 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 continuous rains swamping the area.

On any offered day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement however showers and laundry facilities 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 really challenging trying to get them any type of shelter.”

She stated the homeless were trying to discover any dry places they could sleep across 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 condition is truly horrible.”

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 federal government street count.

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

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres established in schools, universities, gyms and clubs might not function as a long-term fix to estate problems in the region.

“I am fully familiar with the substantial obstacles for real estate in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not permanent options … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allowance,” he said.

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

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

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

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

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

In Pottsville, in between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was among the particles that cleaned up after substantial swells damaged the coastline for days.

Residents from 17 NSW city government locations who had lost earnings 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 stated the financial backing would be backed by mental health services for affected locations.

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

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