Residents forced out of homes, into tight rental market due to Resilient Homes flood recovery buybacks

Residents across the Northern Rivers are being forced out of homes and into the brutal rental market due to long-awaited flood property buybacks. Here's what’s happening.

Lismore in the floods. Picture: AFP/NSW SES

Residents across the Northern Rivers are being forced out of homes and into the tight rental market due to government-funded property buybacks.

Tenants are being told they must vacate, while owner-occupiers who have accepted Resilient Home Program buybacks are leaving the region in droves.

Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg said he knew of about “50 people that have moved out (of his city) after buybacks” 18 months after the record floods last year.

“Everyone that I’ve spoken to that has accepted a buyback that has been an owner occupier – 80 per cent of them have had to move out of the Lismore area because they can’t afford to stay in Lismore, and that is very deeply concerning,” he said.

Mayor Steve Krieg in Lismore CBD during the disasters. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Danielle Smith

Renters Yani Clarke and Cash Weijers live in a flood-stricken street at Lismore.

They are fighting eviction after about six months in the property, which is in line for a buyback.

They have put their hand up to buy, but were pipped by the government’s offer.

Landlords cannot access buyback money until tenants have vacated.

Ms Clarke and Mr Weijers said they were bracing to re-enter the rental market as their home is boarded up, but they may end up leaving town.

“Renters face the grim prospect of homelessness and family separation,” Mr Weijers said.

“It’s absurd and completely unjust to force families into uncertainty during an ongoing housing crisis.

Yani Clarke and Cash Weijers. Picture: Yani Clarke.

“The bought-back homes can be a refuge for families in desperate need (while the process is carried out).

“Our heartfelt aim is to purchase and preserve our cherished family home.”

The pair are not alone – fences have gone up around dozens of properties, leaving liveable homes off limits.

Homelessness support service Social Futures believes about 18,600 homes are needed to meet regional demand.

Chief executive Tony Davies said: “The February and March (flood) events left more than 4000 homes uninhabitable, the majority in the Northern Rivers.”

“But even before floods, the Northern Rivers had a housing crisis, exacerbated by people fleeing locked down cities and moving to the region,” he said.

A Lismore homes hit by the floods. Picture: Cath Piltz.

“In the Ballina, Tweed, Lismore and Richmond Valley local government areas, rents increased by 20 per cent or more during the pandemic.”

Byron is not immune and it was reported in July more people were sleeping rough in the town than the City of Sydney.

A spokesman for the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation, part of the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA), said it would “relocate suitable homes wherever possible”.

“Where it is not, we will make sure that the reusability of homes is considered before any demolitions occur, including those purchased under the buyback program,” he said.

Lismore homes underwater. Picture: ADF/AFP

The 2022 floods in Lismore. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Cr Krieg and state Lismore MP Janelle Saffin called for more suitable land to be opened up to save historic and much-needed homes.

The mayor said he was working “every single day” to keep communities and neighbourhoods together.

“We want to keep the history and the heritage of these beautiful old heritage homes and we want to keep the identity of Lismore,” Cr Krieg said.

He said the state “should have released land before they started offering buybacks”.

Ms Saffin said the program took an “economic and emotional toll” on residents and urged the NSWRA to “crack on” with making more land available.

She did reveal “we'll have land available right across the Northern Rivers, but particularly in the Lismore area too. So it means there won’t be people having to go away”.

Ms Saffin said housing availability was “so badly neglected” in the region, even before the floods, and it would “take time to start to make headway”.