In 2022, the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) leased sports grounds off Ballina Council to create a temporary pod village that could house displaced families after the devastating floods of the same year. 

The Wollongbar pod community is nearing the full term of its tenancy. It was scheduled to close in November 2024. Earlier this month, tennant's received a letter advising they had to move out by that date.

Both Ballina Council and Member for Ballina, Tamara Smith MP, have acknowledged this date and have sought to extend it, with the NSWRA looking to extend the lease for as long as possible.

Ballina Shire Council decided to extend the lease of the pod village by six months at a council meeting this week. Wollongbar pod residents now need to leave by April 2025.

On Tuesday, Member for Ballina Tamara Smith and Greens Councillor Kiri Dicker visited residents to discuss what this means for the vulnerable people living there. Many expressed frustration and fear about finding suitable, long-term accommodation during a housing crisis, within such a tight timeframe.

"It beggars’ belief that there are sitting councillors on Ballina Council who have denied a 12-month extension of these vulnerable residents for no good reason”, Ms Smith said. 

“There is an acute housing crisis. The Wollongbar community, including our sporting clubs, have been so generous and welcoming towards our flood-affected neighbours, and the residents of the pod village have been exemplar.

“Who exactly would be hurt by extending the lease on humanitarian grounds?”

“The Reconstruction Authority asked for as much of an extension as possible in discussions leading up to a formal request but were informed that only two months was on offer. Thankfully our Greens Councillors pushed hard for longer and we got a six-month extension.

“I reassured the residents that I am here to support them and to back in the work of the Reconstruction Authority who are doing everything they can to transition residents into secure housing. I am deeply disappointed with the councillors who voted to turn them out”, Ms Smith concluded.

In contrast, Mayor of Ballina, Sharon Cadwallader said they were asked to extend the pod community for two months. However, the Ballina council voted to extend it to 6 months. 

“We should be thinking of the people, and that's what we've done by saying, if you need a bit of extra time, that's okay.”

“Denise from Casino has been the spokesperson for the population. The pods are half empty now, so they're transitioning out of them already. They're finding homes, but some of them won't go either.” 

Mayor Cadwallader believes the remaining occupants are not from this area.

“We were the first council to jump on board and offer up the sports fields as a place to put some temporary housing. Temporary being the operative word. 

“We took on the biggest village as well. We had to put these people in a paddock without public transport, it’s not walking distance to shops. There’s got to be a timeframe on it or it would go on indefinitely for these poor folk.”

Mayor Cadwallader is also concerned about the ongoing cost to the LGA, and the cost-shifting involved.

“I will not support ratepayers paying for another cost shift. We can't afford that. The ratepayers can't afford that. We've got the lowest rates in the region, and I want to keep it that way because I think we're punching well above our weight with infrastructure, with the small amount of rate base we have.

“If they want to transition into Ballina, we need to build some more social housing and if not, well, we can't take them on.”

Mayor Cadwallader has been pushing for more housing in the region and social housing that can alleviate the dire need, but it has not come to anything substantial at this point. 

Among other potential housing locations being looked at, Mayor Cadwallader said, “I called for an audit of West Ballina, on the social housing precinct there, just down near Fishery Creek. There are lots of homes that have been there for over 20 years that are beyond their use-by date; they're in a terrible state of disrepair. It's like a shanty town.

“I took the emergency services Minister Jihad Dib when he was up here recently. I said three of these house blocks together would enable a three-story, multi-story social housing complex to be built.  

“That would go some way to helping the homeless and these people in the villages. Still nothing, but I must say, I have a meeting on Wednesday with Homes New South Wales that are coming up from Sydney in Ballina. Again I’ll talk to them til I'm blue in the face!”

So Mayor Cadwallader said, “Leave these folks there for Christmas, if that's what they want.”

Perhaps the timing of a 6-month extension will provide a better outcome overall. This will encourage the pod community to vacate to better homes before next year's cold season, and they won't be subject to moving just before Christmas in 2025.