‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable locals face a fight to find food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters recede and momentary shelters shut.

Nearly 800 people have looked for 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 housing and homelessness supervisor 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 rains flooding the space.

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

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

“It has been actually challenging attempting to get them any kind of shelter.”

She stated the homeless were looking for any dry locations they could sleep throughout a northern NSW area currently handling an alarming shortage of budget-friendly real estate.

“We’ve been helping out a whole household sleeping in their vehicle,” Ms Kennedy stated.

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

The Byron Shire regional 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 require services,” Ms Kennedy stated.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, health clubs and clubs might not work as a long-term fix to established housing issues in the area.

“I am totally knowledgeable about the significant obstacles for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not irreversible options … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation,” he said.

The centres would close in all areas once regional emergency 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 warnings in NSW on Monday early morning, while 1800 people were isolated 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 elsewhere.

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

Residents from 17 NSW city government locations who had actually lost income due to the storm would be qualified for relief funds for up to 13 weeks, it was announced on Monday.

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

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

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