‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

deal with a battle to find food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters decline and temporary shelters shut.

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

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies’ regional real estate and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting individuals 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 flooding the space.

On any offered day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need however showers and laundry centers are out of commission up until the flood damage is fixed.

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

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

She said the homeless were searching for any dry locations they could sleep throughout a northern NSW region already dealing with an alarming shortage of budget friendly housing.

“We have actually been helping out an entire household oversleeping their vehicle,” Ms Kennedy stated.

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

The Byron Shire regional federal government location, 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 issue in the Northern Rivers and we need options,” Ms Kennedy said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns stated evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs might not serve as a long-lasting repair to established housing problems in the region.

“I am fully aware of the significant difficulties for real estate 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 local emergency situation orders were lifted, Mr Minns included.

“So I desire to apologise ahead of time however we need to draw a really clear and understood line.”

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

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

Major flood warnings were still in location 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 debris that cleaned up after substantial swells battered the coastline for days.

Residents from 17 NSW city government locations 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 backing would be backed by psychological health services for impacted areas.

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

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