“Happy to be alive”: Wollongbar pod village welcomes its first residents

The “pod village” at Wollongbar Sports Fields has received its first residents. Here are the details.

A Lismore woman is among the first to be welcomed at the North Coast’s first temporary housing site for flood-affected community members.

Daniela Gonzalez, 55, waded through waist-high blackwater from the Roadrunner Caravan park with one bag of clothes.

“It just happened so fast,” Ms Gonzalez said.

“By the time I got a bag of clothes the water was already up to my waist.”

An adjoining property took in around 50 residents from the flooded caravan park while they waited to get back and start the clean up.

Ms Gonzalez stripped out her caravan and was sleeping in it with the help of friends who had given her a swag.

“I’d been to the resilience centre at the Uni and put my name down for housing and all the things you do at services NSW,” Ms Gonzalez said.

Services NSW contacted her last week and within the next few days Ms Gonzalez was in her new home.

Ms Gonzalez said the application process was “the nicest, smoothest, most gentle experience I’ve ever had in my life”.

“I feel really, really good,” she said.

“I was so overwhelmed. Oh my God, I can’t believe I have a home.

“It’s for a whole year so I know that at least for a year I don’t have to worry about how am I going to find a rental, how am I going to find a job, how am I going to put my life back together.

“I have peace of mind but there is still a bit of delayed shock,” Ms Gonzalez said.

Originally the Wollongbar site was to support up to 25 modular homes and house up to 100 people.

The four-person pod home at Wollongbar Sports Fields. Picture Cath Piltz

Now it will have the capacity for 128 temporary modular homes and approximately 30 caravans.

CEO of North Coast Community Housing John McKenna said the facility should be able to house flood impacted community members temporarily for up to two years.

“Initially my understanding is that the pods are for people impacted by the floods,” Mr McKenna said.

He said people can be flood impacted in many ways.

“People have lost their housing because owners have had to move into their house.

“That’s flood related.

“If people are in need of emergency housing as a result of the flood they should contact Service NSW.

“They will be put on a list that we then draw down on to house people when we get our sites up and running,” Mr McKenna said.

Caravans will be short-term accommodation up to six months.

Pods are stand-alone temporary accommodation units that come in several configurations and capacities, and can accommodate between one to four people each:

• Four people (two bunk beds or two double beds)

• Two people (double bed)

• One person (single bed)