The Lismore App sat down with David Witherdin, CEO of the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation to get the latest on the rebuild with temporary housing leading the way.

Last Tuesday night, Lismore City Councillors failed to back Mayor Steve Krieg's motion to use Hepburn Park as the second temporary housing site in the Lismore LGA.

"I think that is disappointing. We are certainly really constrained in terms of the number of sites for pods and modules right across the Northern Rivers. Communities certainly voice their frustration with it, I'm frustrated with it."

"There are a number of barriers, for good reason, in terms of locating suitable flood-free sites, the ability to service those with power, sewer, water infrastructure, challenges around cultural heritage, biodiversity, where they're located in relation to key services for people is critical and the other ever-present challenge is just been how bloody wet the ground is, you know, it just hasn't been able to progress quickly there."

"So, I think I share the frustrations and particularly in relation to Lismore, the only site we've got moving forward within the Lismore City Council area is Southern Cross Uni because Wollongbar is within the Ballina Shire.

"The greatest need for temporary housing is here, they are the most displaced. I get that the local community sometimes may not want it near their place, but I would encourage people to think of their fellow community members. This is their greatest time of need and this is a temporary solution to give them some certainty and security."

"I think council really needs to put their mind to considering that as quickly as possible so we can move forward. But for me, I'm not going to just wait for that. I think we really need to consider and consider quickly a range of other alternative solutions there."

"I think the best outcome we can possibly have is to get people back onto their own home sites or even in their own homes as quickly as possible. What I want to consider now is really how quickly we can do some rapid refits of homes. How quickly we could acquire either caravans or additional pods and get those on home sites here."

Can people who have been flood-affected and displaced apply for these pods and caravans now?

"We're not at that point yet but I think we need to be considering those options now because we're not moving quickly enough for a number of good reasons as I outlined, the supply of sites just isn't there. We're not getting key decisions. We've been held up with Hepburn Park, we've been held up at Mullumbimby where we're getting access to sites. So, I think we've got to be open to a whole range of solutions."

"One of the solutions that's been implemented in Woodburn is caravans and that's been really well received because the good thing about caravans is if a flood is coming, you can actually get them out of the way as well."

You mentioned the 'rapid home refit', can you describe how that would work?

"What that's about is just doing a basic refit of a flood-damaged home so we can get people back in there in a safe and secure way. So it's sort of getting the living room relined, power redone, a basic kitchen in place, a basic bathroom and somewhere where people can sleep."

"We're working with a number of contractors on that. In terms of looking at what those opportunities are, I think my expectation is that it can happen within a matter of weeks, you know, you're probably talking six weeks when we can get those sorts of things happening."

So, in six weeks' time that will be an option for people?

"I think that is quite realistic. I think we need to challenge ourselves and ask "can we do it sooner than that?"

"As for the actual rapid refit, from when you actually start, this can happen within a couple of weeks. There's no doubt about that."

"Look, there's people in the community that aren't waiting for government. They've got on and done it. I've had a number of people in touch with me, they've shared photos of what they've done and not only have they sort of rebuilt back, they've done it with the right materials, with villaboard and they've lifted power up. There's been some pretty impressive work done by people but there is an opportunity for government to do more."

What is the latest update on land swaps and house buybacks?

"We're working through that and I think we need to set a bit of a framework up around that. We're in a situation where there are a number of people who still want emergency accommodation, they're the ones we know about."

"There's people there that are essentially camping out within mould, ridden homes, they're living rough in cars, they're lounge surfing with friends, that sort of stuff. So, my view is we just move forward on it, sort of have a no regrets basis to get the best outcomes for people in the short term."

So, does that mean the short-term option is to get people back in their homes while finding available land so land swaps can start to happen?

"Let's be honest, we would always discourage people from going back to those highest risk areas. I think the best opportunity is to get them into some temporary accommodation somewhere for the longer term but we have just got to have all things on the table.

"In terms of land swap type arrangements, they'll need to open up and I think that will need to happen pretty quickly for people that opt into a voluntary purchase program."

"We're certainly doing a lot of desktop work to identify suitable sites. We've been approached by owners and developers of various sites. We're looking at opportunities within Crown land parcels at the moment, and certainly what I'm seeing, gives me some confidence. That, you know, we can sort of unlock some opportunity there in a reasonable period of time."

Are we talking thousands of potential new homes?

"I don't think we're looking into that scale, to be honest. What we have found with the Flood Property Assessment Program is there are very few homes that are structurally damaged, and I think in terms of those that are likely to be part of a voluntary purchase program, you know, we're not looking in the thousands there, we're looking in the hundreds and that is certainly my advice in terms of working with council on that."

"That will be a progressive thing as well so that people will sort of roll out into those development opportunities. That will happen over 1, 2, 3, 4 years, that kind of thing, but I think what we're going to do is focus on the most at-risk properties and work back from there."

What about the balance of an average-sized block to accommodate a 3-4 bedroom house, social housing and medium density housing?

"We're well aware of, not just in Lismore but right across the Northern Rivers community, there's a really strong focus on environment and sustainability. It is a key element. But equally, the housing pressures before the floods was probably one of the tightest in the country, some really tight pressures there around the cost of housing and social housing."

"I think all of that needs to be integrated into solutions in terms of how we move forward, it's got to be part of it. We can't just move forward to meet the capacity driven by floods, we've got to unlock those pre-existing constraints as part of the solution."

"We've got to put our minds to different ways of doing things because whatever we were doing before the floods clearly wasn't working because we had those pressures on the market. So, doing more of the same is not going to cut it."

"So I think density, absolutely, a mix of that. I think we should open our minds even to height constraints in some areas as well. But at the core of what we do here, I think we need to adopt some sustainability principles around how we do it. So we do it in the best way because I think we've all seen plenty of bad development done around the place and none of us want that."

During last Tuesday night's council meeting, it was mentioned that councillors haven't met with you yet to discuss the Lismore rebuild. Has any of them approached you?

"No, they haven't asked. I've certainly had very regular engagement with both the mayor and the general manager, but look, I absolutely welcome that engagement at any time. I have certainly made the offer via all the general managers that I am always available to come along and brief councillors."

"It's only a couple of weeks since we went live but anytime from now is probably a good time to do that. Maybe a better time is post the recommendations of the flooding inquiry because then we can give a fuller overview of next next steps as well."

"I welcome a discussion with any individual councillor at any time as well and you know I have ongoing engagement with both state MPs and federal MPs right across the region as well and that's critical."