With "hundreds and hundreds" of flood impacted people still living in less than ideal conditions across the region, the work done by Resilient Lismore has proven crucial.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It's estimated that 5000 homes were significantly damaged on the Northern Rivers, with about 2000 of those in Lismore.
While many have been repaired, or being bought back, Resilient Lismore executive director Elly Bird said a walk around the town quickly revealed how many homes were still in a poor state.
"There's still a significant amount of very damaged housing in our region, and people just making do and living on those properties," Elly said.
"Hundreds and hundreds of homes are still in a damaged state, and a large portion of those homes are not eligible for any further assistance through the current government programs."
She said people are living with leaking taps and damp, temporary kitchens, no walls in part of their homes, and temporary power solutions.
"There are still a lot of people in caravans, or demountables, or pods, or whatever they managed to get on their properties."
Lismore MP Janelle Saffin said she would have liked to see homeowners given more money from the Back to Home grant immediately after the disaster. She said this would have given more people the opportunity to stay in their own homes while they decided what they wanted to do in the future.
Elly agreed, saying that from the start, Resilient Lismore's motivating force was finding places for people to live.
"At the time of impact, there was no housing, we looked around and said, "we have housing, it's just damaged'. If we can restore the house we have to a level where it is safe and secure and dignified for people to live in, we can make a big difference to people."
Resilient Lismore launched its Two Rooms and a Bathroom project to give people back some quality of life. It runs in partnership with the Reece Foundation, and is supported by Lismore Catholic Diocese, the Winsome, and Joel Jensen Constructions. A team of volunteers provide much of the labour.
Last year, the team repaired more than 350 homes.
"The need for a secure place to live can't be underestimated after a disaster," Elly said.
"If you don't have housing and you don't have shelter, then you can't address all of the other aspects of your well-being that are really important."
Retrofits and raising funding from the Resilient Homes Program is expected to start rolling out funding in the next couple of months.
Flood housing audit
An audit of the flood housing response after the February 2022 flood was scathing in its appraisal, saying while housing was rapidly deployed, the planning for such an event was inadequate.
The Audit Office of NSW delivered its report this week, which found the agency responsible for delivering emergency housing in the aftermath of the flood, the Department of Communities and Justice, had inadequate planning in place to provide or run the emergency accommodation.
The audit report said: "The NSW Government rapidly procured and constructed temporary housing villages. However, the amount of temporary housing provided did not meet the demand.
"There is an extensive waitlist for temporary housing and the remaining demand in the Northern Rivers is unlikely to be met. The NSW Reconstruction Authority has not reviewed this list to confirm its accuracy."
The report said demobilisation plans for the temporary housing villages have been developed, but there are no long-term plans in place for the transition of tenants out of the temporary housing.
Responsible agencies included in this audit were the Department of Communities and Justice, NSW Reconstruction Authority, the former Department of Planning and Environment, the Department of Regional NSW and the Premier's Department.
"Agencies are in the process of evaluating the provision of emergency accommodation and temporary housing."
