The announcement to end the lease of approximately 84 households at the Wollongbar Pod Village, or the Wollongbar Temporary Housing Village as the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) now refer to them, by April 2025 has caused community division.

As the word suggests, temporary is just that. Eventually, it was known that residents would leave and re-enter the housing market in some form, residential or social, after living rent-free since they moved into the village.

The problem for local residents is the change in market conditions since the 2022 flood.

The amount of housing stock for rent in Lismore was greater, and the rents were cheaper, with properties in 2021 available for $250-400 per week (profile id). In 2024, property rentals start at $500 per week, although the odd 2-bedroom house can have a $450-a-week price tag when it comes on the market. Another problem is that rental houses do not sit on the market for very long.

How does a single person on a pension afford to rent a house in Lismore anymore?

The NSWRA has the unenviable task of rehousing 84 residents in eight months during a housing crisis. The double whammy is that the construction phase of the Lismore and Northern Rivers flood recovery is nearly here, so how and where do we house hundreds of workers involved in that rebuild?

Putting those questions aside, it must be said the Temporary Housing Villages have given hundreds of families a roof over their heads since they were established. Wollongbar was the first in May 2022. When people had lost everything and were living in emergency accommodation or staying with family and friends, the NSW government built eleven (11) temporary pod villages.

(Inside the East Lismore Pod Village)

To give you an example of how the pod villages have helped flood-affected people and families, the Lismore App tells the story of Ajok Agout and Emma Stoddart.

Each has been helped by the community housing provider’s case management system which provides residents with access to a range of support services such as mental health and financial counselling and assists with things like job and housing applications.

Ajok Agout is a South Sudanese refugee who has been displaced twice in her life. The first by war in her home country and the second by the 2022 floods in Lismore.

Ajok, her 5-year-old son and mother, lived in an East Lismore apartment near Wade Park when the big flood hit. Luckily, they got out quickly and made their way to the SCU emergency accommodation, unlike Ajok's sister who was rescued off her roof in South Lismore.

In the weeks and months that followed, Ajok stayed with friends and then in a caravan in the Lismore Caravan Park in town before the second major flood hit in March. Ajok and her son were then moved to Alstonville, but the caravan was not considered appropriate for kids, and the toilet was not working, so it involved a longer walk to another facility.

Ajok ended up in a motel in Ballina for two weeks, then went to Adelaide and Perth for a few weeks before it was suggested she should come home to live in the Kingscliff Pod Village. Her sister ended up getting a place in Tweed Heads.

Ajok said the Kingscliff Pod Village has helped her and her son have some consistency, but now that is coming to an end in mid-2025. She has a case manager who has helped her access counselling and provide assistance with house applications.

The problem for Ajok is she is not employed, and is looking for casual work. She was in childcare.

"My son was struggling being moved around and getting used to the place. I don't want to move him again. Moving my son back and forth is not really working for him," Ajok said.

This is an example of how Lismore loses residents. Ajok's mother is now living with her sister in Tweed.

"I think we will stay in the Tweed area now because my family is here. We have six months until they close Kingscliff, and finding rental accommodation is so expensive. The RA is helping me, but they're not sure how it will go either. I have an application for social housing in the system, so we're waiting now.

Lismore resident Emma Stoddart's story is different.

Emma, her partner, and their pets were flooded out of their home, and in November 2022, she moved into the Lismore temporary housing village.

While living in the village, she was able to repair her home and moved back in May this year.

“We were paying rent and a mortgage and thinking about also paying for home repairs and contents was impossible. We couldn’t afford to keep renting if we wanted to repair our house and started thinking about living in a van under our leaky carport.”

Emma is one of more than 2,000 people who have been supported by the RA’s Temporary Housing and At-Home Caravan programs, each with their own story to tell.

Parliamentary Secretary for Disaster Recovery Janelle Saffin said, “In the aftermath of the devastating floods in 2022, the NSW Reconstruction Authority (RA) established 11 temporary housing villages in the Northern Rivers, with the assistance of councils and other landowners under crisis accommodation planning exemptions. 

“State and federal disaster recovery funding has enabled the provision of rent-free accommodation in the villages, along with access to other services and opportunities, to help people get back on their feet.”

Acting CEO of NSW Reconstruction Authority Mal Lanyon said, “The RA is working closely with Northern Rivers Housing, Homes NSW, and local support services to ensure that residents are engaged in transition planning to support them on a case-by-case basis into housing that is appropriate to their needs. 

“Since the temporary housing villages were established following the devastating floods of 2022, approximately 270 residents have left temporary villages to move to suitable accommodation including private rentals, share accommodation, social housing, or in some instances, returning to their repaired homes.”

While they are positive numbers, the job ahead for the NSWRA is not an enviable one. They need to find suitable accommodation for hundreds more people in Temporary Housing Villages throughout the Northern Rivers in the coming 6-12 months.