Vulnerable citizens deal with a fight to find food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters decline and short-lived shelters shut.

Nearly 800 individuals have actually sought sanctuary in NSW but their status as pop-up homes for some will disappear after the effect of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies' regional housing and homelessness manager for northeast NSW, has been on the front lines supporting people sleeping rough in flooded zones.

Her task was made harder on Monday due to harm to Fred's Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with continuous rains swamping the space.

On any offered day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in requirement however showers and laundry facilities are out of commission until the flood damage is repaired.

"It has been a horrendous time for the homeless community," Ms Kennedy informed AAP.

"It has actually been actually challenging attempting to get them any type of shelter."

She said the homeless were trying to find any dry locations they might sleep throughout a northern NSW area currently handling an alarming scarcity of inexpensive housing.

"We've been assisting an entire household sleeping in their vehicle," Ms Kennedy stated.

"Seeing them in this horrendous weather is really horrible."

The Byron Shire city government location, south of Tweed Heads, had the most rough sleepers of any council location in the state, according to a 2024 government street count.

"We absolutely do have a real estate problem in the Northern Rivers and we require services," Ms Kennedy said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs might not function as a long-term repair to entrenched real estate issues in the area.

"I am completely familiar with the considerable challenges for real estate in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not permanent services ... we don't have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allotment," he said.

The centres would close in all areas once regional emergency situation orders were lifted, Mr Minns added.

"So I wish to apologise in advance however we have to draw a really clear and understood line."

More than 10,000 people were under emergency situation cautions in NSW on Monday early morning, while 1800 people were separated by floodwaters.

About 10,000 homes and organizations were still not linked to power as heavy rain continued to fall in many locations.

Major flood cautions were still in location for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under method somewhere else.

In Pottsville, in between Tweed Heads and Byron Bay, a whale carcass was amongst the debris that washed up after big swells damaged the coastline for days.

Residents from 17 NSW local federal government locations who had lost earnings due to the storm would be eligible for federal catastrophe relief funds for approximately 13 weeks, it was announced on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the monetary support would be backed by mental health services for affected areas.

"We have actually got your back, that's my message to neighborhoods here," he said from Lismore on Monday.

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