Vulnerable residents deal with a battle to find food and somewhere dry to sleep when flood waters decline and short-term shelters shut.

Nearly 800 people have sought haven 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' regional real estate and homelessness manager 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 constant rainfall swamping the space.

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

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

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

She stated the homeless were trying to find any dry places they could sleep throughout a northern NSW region currently dealing with an alarming lack of cost effective real estate.

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

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

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

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

NSW Premier Chris Minns said evacuation centres established in schools, universities, fitness centers and clubs could not act as a long-term fix to entrenched housing problems in the area.

"I am fully mindful of the substantial difficulties for housing in the Northern Rivers, but evacuation centres are not permanent options ... we do not have the resources, the staffing, the time, the allowance," he said.

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

"So I wish to apologise ahead of time but we have to draw an extremely clear and understood line."

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

About 10,000 homes and services were still not connected 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 particles that cleaned up after substantial swells damaged the shoreline for days.

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

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated the financial support would be backed by mental health for affected areas.

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

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