Reports from the Director Planning and Regulation

from Tweed Valley Weekly, November 17, 2022

by Tweed Valley Weekly

Financial Advice

 Re� rement Planning  Investments  Superannua� on

Kathryn Willowhite

Financial Adviser MFinPlan, DipFP

02 5631 1733

2/15 Commercial Road MURWILLUMBAH NSW 2484 Authorised Representatives of Synchron AFS Licence 243313

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Housing relief fund a major win after flood

By Jonathon Howard A COLLECTIVE sigh of relief has been felt by dozens of flood-impacted residents across the Tweed Shire as the Resilient Homes Fund was announced earlier this month.

The fund unlocks millions of dollars in buyback and retrofitting funds expected to be paid out over the next 12 months or more.

Dozens of residents gathered at the Murwillumbah Services Club on Tuesday, November 8, to hear from members of the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Commission (NRRC) around how the program will be enacted.

The relief is expected to roll out slowly and the NRRC were reluctant to put any specific dates on payments and stressed that a thorough process was their top priority.

The Weekly put several questions to the NRRC post meeting, including when the first homeowner is expected to receive a payout, and whether the government will provide an update on the completed payments as they are processed?

A spokesperson for the NRRC said about 6,000 Northern Rivers homeowners are eligible to receive assistance from the Resilient Homes Program, “which will offer home retrofitting, home raising and home buy-backs”.

“Of the 6,000 eligible homeowners, approximately 2,000 homeowners will be eligible for a home buy-back,” the NRRC spokesperson said.

“The others will either be eligible for retrofitting or home raising.

“The Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation will start contacting registered homeowners this week (November 9) and case managers will progressively reach out to registered homeowners, prioritising homes in highest flood risk areas and speaking with the most severely impacted homeowners first.

“Resilient Homes Program information session schedules and booking details are available at www.nsw.gov.au/NRRC.”

NRRC said it will assign a case manager to each eligible homeowner and case managers will reach out to eligible homeowners from November onwards.

The NRRC case manager will offer one of the three streams to an eligible homeowner: home retrofitting, home raising and home buybacks.

“The offers are based on property assessments, which consider a property’s future flood risk, safety risks and measures that can improve resilience and recovery when future floods occur,” NRRC said in a media statement.