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‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain

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

Nearly 800 individuals have sought sanctuary in NSW evacuation centres but their status as pop-up homes for some will stop to exist after the impact of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies’ local real estate and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has been on the front lines 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 rainfall flooding the space.

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

« It has actually been a horrendous time for the homeless neighborhood, » Ms Kennedy informed AAP.

« It has actually been actually tough trying to get them any kind of shelter. »

She said the homeless were trying to find any dry places they might sleep throughout a northern NSW region currently handling a dire shortage of budget-friendly housing.

« We have actually been assisting a whole family sleeping in their cars and truck, » Ms Kennedy said.

« Seeing them in this horrendous weather condition is truly terrible. »

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 federal government street count.

« We definitely do have a real estate problem in the Northern Rivers and we require options, » Ms Kennedy said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns stated evacuation centres established in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs could not act as a long-term repair to established housing problems in the area.

« I am totally familiar with the substantial difficulties for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not long-term solutions … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation, » he stated.

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

« So I want to apologise ahead of time but we have to draw an extremely clear and understood line. »

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

About 10,000 homes and companies were still not connected 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 somewhere else.

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

Residents from 17 NSW city government areas who had lost income due to the storm would be eligible for federal disaster relief funds for up to 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the financial backing would be backed by services for affected areas.

« We’ve got your back, that’s my message to communities here, » he stated from Lismore on Monday.

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