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<br>Vulnerable citizens face a battle to find food and someplace dry to sleep when flood waters decline and momentary shelters shut.<br>
<br>Nearly 800 people have sought refuge in NSW evacuation centres however their status as pop-up homes for some will stop to exist after the effect of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.<br>
<br>Kim Kennedy, Vinnies’ regional real estate and homelessness manager for northeast NSW, has been on the cutting edge supporting individuals sleeping rough in flooded zones.<br>
<br>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 consistent rainfall flooding the space.<br>
<br>On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need however showers and laundry centers run out commission until the flood damage is repaired.<br>
<br>”It has actually been a horrendous time for the homeless neighborhood,” Ms told AAP.<br>
<br>”It has been truly tough attempting to get them any kind of shelter.”<br>
<br>She stated the homeless were looking for any dry places they might sleep across a northern NSW area already handling a dire lack of cost effective housing.<br>
<br>”We have actually been assisting out an entire family oversleeping their vehicle,” Ms Kennedy said.<br>
<br>”Seeing them in this horrendous weather condition is really horrible.”<br>
<br>The Byron Shire regional government location, south of Tweed Heads, had the most rough sleepers of any council area in the state, according to a 2024 government street count.<br>
<br>”We definitely do have a housing issue in the Northern Rivers and we need options,” Ms Kennedy said.<br>
<br>NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres established in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs could not work as a long-term fix to entrenched real estate issues in the area.<br>
<br>”I am fully knowledgeable about the considerable difficulties for real estate in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not long-term services … we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allocation,” he stated.<br>
<br>The centres would close in all locations once local emergency situation orders were lifted, Mr Minns added.<br>
<br>”So I want to apologise in advance but we have to draw a very clear and understood line.”<br>
<br>More than 10,000 individuals were under emergency situation cautions in NSW on Monday morning, while 1800 individuals were isolated by floodwaters.<br>
<br>About 10,000 homes and companies were still not connected to power as heavy rain continued to fall in lots of areas.<br>
<br>Major flood cautions were still in place for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under way somewhere else.<br>
<br>In Pottsville, between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was amongst the debris that washed up after big swells battered the coastline for days.<br>
<br>Residents from 17 NSW regional government areas who had lost income due to the storm would be qualified for federal catastrophe relief funds for as much as 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday.<br>
<br>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the financial backing would be backed by mental health services for impacted areas.<br>
<br>”We have actually got your back, that’s my message to communities here,” he stated from Lismore on Monday.<br>
<br>Lifeline 13 11 14<br>
<br>beyondblue 1300 22 4636<br>
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