Horrendous : Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable homeowners deal with a fight to find food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters recede and short-term shelters shut.


Nearly 800 individuals have looked for refuge 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 housing and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has actually been on the front lines 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 constant the area.


On any provided 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 fixed.


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


"It has actually been truly challenging attempting to get them any type of shelter."


She said the homeless were trying to discover any dry places they might sleep throughout a northern NSW region already dealing with an alarming lack of inexpensive housing.


"We've been assisting out an entire household oversleeping their automobile," Ms Kennedy stated.


"Seeing them in this horrendous weather is actually dreadful."


The Byron Shire city government location, south of Tweed Heads, had the most rough sleepers of any council location in the state, according to a 2024 government street count.


"We absolutely do have a housing problem in the Northern Rivers and we need services," Ms Kennedy said.


NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres established in schools, universities, health clubs and clubs might not act as a long-lasting repair to established real estate issues in the area.


"I am fully knowledgeable about the significant difficulties for real estate in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not irreversible services ... we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allotment," he said.


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


"So I wish to apologise in advance but we need to draw an extremely 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 services were still not connected to power as heavy rain continued to fall in numerous areas.


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


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


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


Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the financial support would be backed by mental health services for impacted areas.


"We've got your back, that's my message to neighborhoods here," he said from Lismore on Monday.


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