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Mayor of Tweed Shire Chris Cherry has welcomed the announcement today of an $800 million program to help residents in flood-prone areas of the Northern Rivers raise, repair or retrofit their homes or leave the floodplain permanently through a voluntary home buyback plan.
Around 2,000 homeowners across the 7 local government areas of the Northern Rivers, including Tweed Shire, are expected to be eligible for the Resilient Homes Fund package.
Cr Cherry thanked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, who made the announcement in Lismore today.
“This is an incredible announcement for our community, and we thank the Australian and NSW governments for hearing our calls to support our community,” Cr Cherry said.
“This funding will make a real and lasting difference to our flood vulnerability into the future, but more than that, it will be a chance at a new beginning for so many of our families.
“This seems like a really well thought out program that has the potential to be the single-most impacting action government has taken since the flood.”
Tweed Shire Council has strongly advocated for more funding for the Voluntary House Raising and Voluntary House Purchase schemes since the immediate aftermath of the flood, which hit the region in February-March this year.
Council has also worked closely with the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation to supply a list of flood-prone properties in the Tweed expected to be eligible for the voluntary buyback.
The voluntary buyback scheme will be offered to Northern Rivers residents located in the most vulnerable areas where major flooding would pose a catastrophic risk to life.
The Northern Rivers Resilient Homes Fund package includes financial assistance of up to $100,000 for house raising or up to $50,000 for retrofitting for homeowners in areas where flood risk can be reduced by better building standards.
Offers to individual homeowners will be based on extensive analysis of the 2022 floods and expert advice on any subsequent disaster.
How to apply:
The Resilient Homes Program will begin reaching out to eligible residents from November 2022.
Residents already engaged in the Flood Property Assessment Program, delivered by NSW Public Works and Johns Lyng Group, will be contacted automatically.
Registrations are still open for the Flood Property Assessment Program.
