'Horrendous': Shelter Closures Pour On Housing Pain
Vulnerable homeowners deal with a battle to discover food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters decline and short-lived shelters shut.
Nearly 800 individuals have looked for refuge in NSW evacuation centres however their status as pop-up homes for some will disappear after the effect of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.
Kim Kennedy, Vinnies' local real estate and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting individuals sleeping rough in flooded zones.
Her job was made harder on Monday due to harm to Fred's Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with continuous rains inundating the space.
On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement but showers and laundry facilities are out of 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 truly challenging attempting to get them any kind of shelter."
She stated the homeless were looking for any dry locations they might sleep across a northern NSW area already dealing with an alarming scarcity of cost effective housing.
"We've been helping out a whole family oversleeping their vehicle," 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 federal 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 set up in schools, universities, health clubs and clubs could not function as a long-term repair to established real estate issues in the region.
Vulnerable homeowners deal with a battle to discover food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters decline and short-lived shelters shut.
Nearly 800 individuals have looked for refuge in NSW evacuation centres however their status as pop-up homes for some will disappear after the effect of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.
Kim Kennedy, Vinnies' local real estate and homelessness supervisor for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting individuals sleeping rough in flooded zones.
Her job was made harder on Monday due to harm to Fred's Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with continuous rains inundating the space.
On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement but showers and laundry facilities are out of 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 truly challenging attempting to get them any kind of shelter."
She stated the homeless were looking for any dry locations they might sleep across a northern NSW area already dealing with an alarming scarcity of cost effective housing.
"We've been helping out a whole family oversleeping their vehicle," 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 federal 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 set up in schools, universities, health clubs and clubs could not function as a long-term repair to established real estate issues in the region.