‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

Vulnerable locals face a fight to find food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters decline and short-lived shelters shut.

Nearly 800 individuals have actually looked for sanctuary 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’ regional housing and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has actually been on the cutting edge supporting individuals 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 provided day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement but showers and laundry centers run out commission until the flood damage is fixed.

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

“It has actually been truly difficult attempting to get them any type of shelter.”

She said the homeless were looking for any dry places they could sleep throughout a northern NSW area currently dealing with a dire scarcity of cost effective housing.

“We have actually been assisting an entire family sleeping in their car,” Ms Kennedy said.

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

The Byron Shire city government location, 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 solutions,” Ms Kennedy said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, health clubs and clubs might not act as a long-lasting repair to entrenched real estate problems in the region.

“I am fully mindful of the significant challenges for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not permanent solutions … we don’t have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allotment,” he said.

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

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

More than 10,000 individuals were under in NSW on Monday early morning, while 1800 individuals were separated 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 cautions were still in place for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under method somewhere else.

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

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

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

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