There has been a great deal of community speculation about the East Lismore Temporary Housing Village or Pod Village as it is colloquially called. The speculation ranges from the need for more temporary housing in the Lismore LGA to blaming residents for any crime in the area due to the type of people living in the Pods.

The East Lismore Pod Village is housing people that cannot return to their homes following the February 28 flood last year.

The Lismore App visited two families living in the Pod Village to ask what life is really like and how it has impacted their families.

Teresa McPherson moved in shortly after the Pod village opened in November, before that Teresa and her two teenage children were staying at a property in Alstonville.

"It's good here, it's enabled me to have my grandkids visit again and they love coming here, they love nanny's house."

"I love the fact that we can have our two dogs live with us and now we're considering getting a parrot because my youngest daughter wants a bird and they love that they can have friends come and stay over which is great because for 12 months they couldn't."

"They (North Coast Community Housing) want it to be more relaxed and made like a home to relieve some of the stresses. We've had a few struggles over the last couple of months with my daughters settling in and getting back into a routine. They're a lot better now but still adjusting. We've had great support from the social workers here and the Village managers and stuff like that.

What would life be without the East Lismore Pods?

"I don't want to think about it. I probably would have had to relocate back to Grafton and stay with my father which means pulling my kids out of school. They go to Ballina Coast High, one is in Year 11 and the other Year 10. So, to uproot them out of the school at this time of year would cause more problems."

"There's a great network here, I've met a lot of nice people and it's a good environment, it's not rowdy or anything like that and if someone needs help people pitch in."

To address a couple of Teresa's points, we are told that Lifeline and Daisi Services are weekly visitors to the Village Pods offering support services like counselling to all residents. Lifeline and Red Cross hold regular community barbecues to lift morale, Rekindling the Spirit is another regular visitor and The Pantry has staple food and drink packages on offer once a week.

Communication is regular and consistent. When any of the services arrive on-site an email and text go out to all residents saying it is now available.

You can't help but be impressed by the organisation and support services offered, on top of rent, electricity and water.

Marcus and Leonie Bebb were living in two pop-top caravans at the Lismore Showgrounds for 10 months with their three teenage children before they were offered a family pod in East Lismore Village.

(Marcus and Leonie Bebb when they were living in two pop-up caravans out the front of the Gemfest office after the February 28 flood)

Since November, Marcus and Leonie Bebb have been living in a three-bedroom family pod that has made such a huge difference to their lives, especially their children.

"It's a lot better than the Lismore Showground," Marcus said, "We had our reservations about village life and the pods. We didn't know how big they were going to be and what was going on. It was the big, unknown scenario. The only thing we knew about the villages was from Wollongbar and we know there has been a few issues there."

"We got the opportunity to have a look and inspect them. We literally walked in the door and I think we (his wife Leonie) both looked at each other and went where do we sign?"

The bonus for Marcus and Leonie is their teenage children (two 16-year-olds and a 15-year-old) have their own bedroom and their own space.

Leonie chimed in, "It was important to have their own space. Especially when you have two 16-year-olds, a boy and a girl, living in a van together."

Apart from giving the Bebb's a stable roof over their heads, like Teresa with her dogs, they could now have their two cats back in their temporary home completing the family unit.

"The cats were in a tree for a week after the flood, we thought we had lost them," Leonie said, "they were living at a friend's place for eight months and now we have them back which is awesome."

(Marcus and Leonie at home in a family pod at the East Lismore Village)

Marcus adds, "That gives us a lot of comfort, just in that sense, it's a little bit of normality."

There have been so many rumours about life in the East Lismore Village, Marcus and Leonie gave some reality to how life really is for the 200 people in 52 pods on a day-to-day basis.

"We're all locals, so we're all from here. The furthest one, the lady that lives in front of us is from Bungawalbin, the lady beside us is Coraki and the other family on the other side of us are South Lismore guys, Tim behind us is South Lismore. Yeah, we're all local."

"There's a mix of homeowners, renters and community housing people. This place is popular and has a very quick turnaround. When somebody moves out of this place, somebody moves in and I'm talking a couple of days. There's a big waiting list."

"There's a lady near the front who is moving back into her rental. The owner came up and asked her if she wanted to move back in near Wade Park and she jumped at it, no increase in rent."

One thing you notice when you walk around the Pod Village is the quiet, during our visit the atmosphere was more like a health resort, very peaceful and very quiet.

Marcus explained that the lease people sign is very detailed and it is upheld when there is unrest.

"If we step out of line, where out, no ifs or buts and no second warnings. This is a privilege, not a right and that's how everybody treats it here. We still have our family rifts and people turn in the opposite direction but we're living in close quarters so you would expect that at times."

"We have a 9pm curfew where music and TVs have to be turned down, the noise kept to a minimum and day visitors are gone. All visitors have to sign in at the front office and if you want someone to stay overnight they can but they too have to sign in so they know who is on-site at all times."

"There's on-site management, they walk around all the time, there's security cameras in the common areas and the car park."

The system has been put to the test when there was a punch-up between two residents with both being escorted off the premises by police and evicted. All residents understand they need to follow the guidelines outlined in the lease, which was for an initial 12 months.

Leonie supports the strict rules, "That's good because there are young kids here and newborns."

As Marcus says, the Pod Village is like any suburban street but instead of 52 homes spread down the street, it's 52 homes spread on 2 acres.

"I'd live here before I'd live in other parts of Lismore. We feel very comfortable here."

What would you change about the Village Pods if you could?

"We'd put in a couple of fire hoses," Marcus replied, "There was a fire in one of the pods, that's when we discovered there are no fire hoses in the place."

"On the external of every pod there's a four-and-a-half kilo powder fire extinguisher and then inside every pod is a fire blanket and another fire extinguisher. They're good for a kitchen, they're good for a quick fire when your standing over it and can put it out."

"We are on the outskirts of East Lismore and it took them (Fire Brigade) a good twenty minutes to get to us. So, it was a few people putting the fire out and trying to extinguish it and do as much as we can and then it became let's try and save the pod next door because they are close quarters. In that exercise, we found out we are living in a village that's got no fire hoses."

"If the fire had been in the middle (pods), it could have been very different," Leonie added.

The fire occurred in one of the end pods.

To the credit of East Lismore Village Management, the pod was replaced in a week with the resident back in their temporary home. The Lismore App understands the fire was an accident.

With one negative among so many positives that are changing the lives of so many local residents during an extraordinary time, you have to say the government got the East Lismore Village right. While the cost can be questioned, and is by some, the shame is that Lismore only has the one pod village.