DIARY OF A FLOOD SURVIVOR

project for the South Coast, I put in a strong bid..to replicate one here on the Northern Rivers,” said Ms Saffin.

“I’d already brought Landcom to our region in late 2021 to work more closely with local councils to start addressing our housing crisis, worsened by last year’s floods.”

Ms Saffin said the program would roll out to Lismore and Murwillumbah and to Tweed Heads and Ballina as a natural extension.

“Not forgetting

Tenterfield as well as we are looking for land around there,” she said.

Tony Davies of Social Futures, an organisation that works closely with the homeless, said they welcomed the announcement.

“In our homelessness services a year ago, we saw more people with families who were homeless,” he said.

“When there are dualincome families who can not afford to rent and that was before the flood.

“Our organisation works with 10,000 people a year in the Northern Rivers region who need a home and there were 30% of them sleeping rough before the flood.

“Adelaide has less rough sleepers than

Lismore.”

Mr Davies said there is also the problem for businesses who cannot get workers as there is nowhere for them to live.

“We will absolutely work with any party that will do this and this investment will provide options for people,” he said.

“This is a great first step. We want all parties to commit as we need more social housing in this region.”

Ms Jackson said she had already be campaigning for more housing in Lismore before the flood.

“The Northern Rivers and North Coast were already struggling with increased rents and historically low vacancy rates prior to the flooding and the situation has now become extremely serious,” she said.

“Labor is serious about building more affordable housing – in particular affordable rentals.

“We know that working people across our regions are desperately struggling to find a place to live and it’s impacting on local economic growth and recovery.”

While the house slowly comes back to a liveable state, there is one elephant in the room, or should I say pool in the backyard, that we have been ignoring.

We put our above ground pool in a couple of years after building the house, as with two growing energetic boys, it was the ideal distraction and entertainment for them and their friends.

Mind you, hubby and I were not averse to having a good splash around in it either. In fact, hubby was the main user most times.

While we have been able to empty the pool of all the muddy flood water, the sides have rusted out badly, leaving only the lining holding the whole thing together.

So now it stands forlornly, awaiting its fate.

We have missed its benefits during this very hot summer and debated often whether or not we can fix it. We have gone backwards and forwards between taking it out and putting in a garden, getting a spa, or finding someone who can fix the rusted area and refilling it with water.

We even put a call out on a tradie Facebook page to see if anyone could fix it, to no avail. And to be honest, it hasn’t been a priority, not when bathrooms and kitchens and even walls have taken up our attention.

Every time we glance out at the backyard and see it, we feel overwhelmed and I go back to my mantra, which has helped us through every stage of rebuilding our home…. Little steps