1000 plus temporary pod village residents on waiting list for housing in Northern NSW
A government report into the housing response for the 2022 floods highlights imminent homelessness for those in temporary accommodation amid no government plans.
Lismore
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Displaced Northern Rivers flood victims living in temporary pod villages on the North Coast are facing imminent homelessness as leases on the homes near expiry in 2025.
In a report released in February, the NSW Auditor-General delivered a scathing account of the government’s failure to provide emergency and temporary housing after the 2022 flood disaster that hit Northern NSW and Central West.
The initial anticipated time frame for the temporary housing program was two years, yet tenants were engaged on three-year leases which are due to expire in June, 2025.
Without a clear plan on moving tenants out and demobilising the 546 pods on the North Coast, hundreds of households are at risk of being unable to be rehomed by the end of this period, the report stated.
Lismore council was criticised for only allowing one pod village site which hampered efforts to house people in the area with the greatest need for temporary housing.
The disaster damaged 10,849 properties and left more than 4000 homes uninhabitable.
The report said by June 2022, the Department of Community Services forecast a demand for over 600 dwellings yet Lismore delivered only 52 dwellings – forcing its flood victims to Wollongbar and Ballina.
Janelle Saffin, State member for Lismore, said on ABC radio in February it was shameful that 195 “excess” housing pods had to be returned from the Northern Rivers and said Resilience NSW was to blame.
This caused an outcry on social media community pages over the already exacerbated housing crisis.
An estimated housing gap of 24,000 dwellings and low rental vacancies are also contributing factors.
Pods that were left idle in paddocks while Lismore council shot down approval for a pod village at Hepburn Park divided the council seeing up to 150 pods taken to the Central West flood zone instead.
A spokesman from the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) said they have no plans to remove any further pods from the villages.
With no plan around how long the temporary villages are intended to remain in place, government policy dictates the villages must be demobilised within a five-year-period.
The NSWRA said there are approximately 600 households on the waiting list that need their housing support needs determined.
“Since the villages opened, The NSWRA has worked with Community Housing Providers to support 130 households out of temporary accommodation, back into the private rental market, and into social housing or to return home,” the NSWRA spokesperson said.
Community housing providers managing the 11 pod villages “know the residents” and case managers are supposed to be working with them on a plan to transition out of temporary accommodation.
“In the meantime, we’re working with the Department of Communities and Justice, Homes NSW local Community Housing Providers and other stakeholders to identify appropriate long term housing options for residents of temporary villages, and to support their transition to more permanent arrangements,” the NSWRA spokesperson said.
Baptist Care, Uniting and Northern Rivers Housing were contacted for comment.
The report specified several recommendations for the Reconstruction Authority:
- Develop a plan for the provision of temporary housing
- Review the temporary housing waiting list
- Determine a timeline for demobilising the temporary housing villages
- Develop a strategy to manage the transition of people into long-term accommodation
- Develop a process for statewide recovery lessons learned
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