Vulnerable residents face a battle to discover food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters recede and temporary shelters shut.
Nearly 800 people have looked for haven in NSW evacuation centres however their status as pop-up homes for some will disappear after the impact 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 people 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 flooding the space.
On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement but showers and laundry facilities run out commission up until the flood damage is fixed.
"It has actually been a horrendous time for the homeless neighborhood," Ms Kennedy told AAP.
"It has actually been truly difficult attempting to get them any type of shelter."
She stated the homeless were searching for any dry locations they could sleep throughout a northern NSW region already dealing with an alarming lack of budget-friendly housing.
"We have actually been helping out a whole household sleeping in their automobile," Ms Kennedy stated.
"Seeing them in this horrendous weather condition is truly terrible."
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 absolutely do have a housing issue in the Northern Rivers and we need options," Ms Kennedy said.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres established in schools, universities, gyms and clubs could not function as a long-term repair to established real estate problems in the area.
"I am completely familiar with the significant difficulties for real estate in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not long-term options ... we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allotment," he stated.
The centres would close in all locations once regional emergency orders were raised, Mr Minns added.
"So I desire to apologise beforehand however we need to draw a very 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 businesses were still not connected to power as heavy rain continued to fall in many areas.
Major flood warnings were still in location for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under way elsewhere.
In Pottsville, between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was amongst the particles that cleaned up after big swells battered the coastline for days.
Residents from 17 NSW local government locations who had actually lost earnings due to the storm would be qualified for federal catastrophe relief funds for approximately 13 weeks, it was announced on Monday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the monetary assistance would be backed by psychological health services for affected locations.
"We have actually got your back, that's my message to communities here," he stated from Lismore on Monday.
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