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

Nearly 800 individuals have looked for refuge in NSW evacuation centres however their status as pop-up homes for some will cease to exist after the impact of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred passes.

Kim Kennedy, Vinnies' local real estate and homelessness for northeast NSW, has actually been on the cutting edge supporting individuals sleeping rough in flooded zones.

Her job was made harder on Monday due to damage to Fred's Place, the Tweed Heads drop-in centre where she is based, with consistent rains inundating the space.

On any given day, the centre serves about 130 hot meals to those in need however showers and laundry facilities run out commission till the flood damage is repaired.

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

"It has been actually tough trying to get them any kind of shelter."

She stated the homeless were trying to find any dry locations they might sleep across a northern NSW area currently dealing with an alarming lack of economical real estate.

"We have actually been assisting an entire family sleeping in their automobile," Ms Kennedy said.

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

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

"We definitely do have a real estate issue in the Northern Rivers and we need solutions," Ms Kennedy said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres set up in schools, universities, gyms and clubs might not act as a long-lasting fix to entrenched housing problems in the area.

"I am completely familiar with the significant difficulties for housing in the Northern Rivers, however evacuation centres are not irreversible services ... we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allowance," he stated.

The centres would close in all locations once local emergency situation orders were lifted, Mr Minns included.

"So I wish to apologise in advance but we need to draw a very clear and understood line."

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

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

Major flood warnings were still in place for parts of the Clarence and Richmond rivers, while clean-up operations were under way somewhere else.

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

Residents from 17 NSW city government areas who had lost income due to the storm would be qualified for federal disaster relief funds for as much as 13 weeks, it was revealed on Monday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the financial backing would be backed by psychological health services for affected locations.

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

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