‘Horrendous’: Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain Vulnerable residents face a fight to find food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters decline and short-term shelters shut. Nearly 800 people have sought 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 manager for northeast NSW, has been on the front lines supporting individuals sleeping rough in flooded zones. Her task was made harder on Monday due to damage to Fred’s Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with continuous rains swamping the space. On any offered day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need but showers and laundry centers run out commission till the flood damage is fixed. “It has been a horrendous time for the homeless neighborhood,” Ms Kennedy told AAP. “It has been actually tough trying to get them any kind of shelter.” She said the homeless were trying to find any dry locations they could sleep across a northern NSW area currently dealing with a dire shortage of economical real estate. “We have actually been assisting out an entire family sleeping in their car,” Ms Kennedy stated. “Seeing them in this horrendous weather is actually awful.” The Byron Shire city government area, south of Tweed Heads, had the most rough sleepers of any council area in the state, according to a 2024 government street count. “We definitely do have a housing problem in the Northern Rivers and we need solutions,” Ms Kennedy said. NSW Premier stated evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, gyms and clubs might not serve as a long-term repair to established real estate issues in the region. “I am completely knowledgeable about the substantial 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 allowance,” he said. The centres would close in all locations once regional emergency orders were raised, Mr Minns included. “So I want to apologise in advance 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 businesses were still not linked to power as heavy rain continued to fall in lots of areas. Major flood warnings were still in location for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under way in other places. In Pottsville, in between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was amongst the particles that washed up after big swells battered the shoreline for days. Residents from 17 NSW regional government areas who had lost earnings due to the storm would be eligible for federal disaster relief funds for as much as 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the financial backing would be backed by psychological health services for impacted locations. “We’ve got your back, that’s my message to neighborhoods here,” he said from Lismore on Monday. Lifeline 13 11 14 beyondblue 1300 22 4636