One August morning, Chels Hood Withey woke to sheriffs banging on the door.

The housing advocate had been squatting in an empty house in Mullumbimby, in Byron shire, after they became homeless in January.

But the house was a “buyback”, one of hundreds purchased from their owners by the New South Wales government’s Reconstruction Authority (RA) as part of a scheme to improve the flood resilience of areas following the state’s devastating floods in 2022. Many people have moved into the homes, which are due for demolition, relocation or recycling, because of what they say is a lack of affordable housing in the region.

In May, a NSW supreme court decision ruled occupants squatting in 10 “buybacks” in Byron shire and Lismore could not stay.

Last month, the evictions were enforced, taking many by surprise. “I didn’t think we had reached the end of the negotiations,” says Hood Withey, who had expected further avenues of appeal. In the confusion, they were not able to gather all of the things they needed and left behind their passport.

The evictions have come amid questions about the housing recovery strategy pursued by the NSW government and the RA following the state’s “one-in-a-hundred year” flood event.

At the time, former Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet said he was “not going to spare a dollar”, promising to “not just rebuild” Lismore but “make it greater”. Many whose homes were less severely flooded hoped they would be retrofitted to improve their flood resilience, or physically raised up or relocated higher above the water line.

But data shared by the Lismore MP and NSW recovery minister, Janelle Saffin, in response to a question in parliament last month shows just 41 flood-affected homes have been raised, retrofitted or relocated across the seven northern rivers local government areas eligible for the state and federal governments’ resilient homes program.

A much higher number of buybacks – 689 – have been completed in the region, with many applicants also yet to accept offers. But NSW Greens upper house MP Sue Higginson says this is a fraction of the 6,000 homes that should be covered by $1.5bn of funding – and “just 1%” of 4,000 retrofits, relocations and raises – promised to residents after the floods.

The promises of $1.5bn in funding and 6,000 remediated or bought are the subject of some controversy, and the NSW government has denied they were ever a firm commitment. Internal documents from the RA’s predecessor, the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC), seen by Guardian Australia, confirm $1.5bn was part of the proposal to federal cabinet.

In budget estimates on Friday, Saffin said she too had advocated for the $1.5bn commitment as a local member, but when the program was announced in October 2022 by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and Perrottet, “the government made it clear it was 2,000 houses all up” and buybacks were the priority.

“It was decided that the buybacks would be done first, because [those properties] were the most at risk,” she said. $880m has been jointly allocated by the state and federal government, of which $552.5m had been spent as of June.

On the social housing waitlist and homeless again, Hood Withey spent eight days camping outside Saffin’s Lismore office before they were moved on by police.

“Our government are paid to ensure everyone has a safe place to sleep at night. We camped out to demand housing as a human right,” they say. “No more empty homes while people are homeless.”

Chels Hood Withey (middle) set up a homeless camp outside the office of Lismore MP and NSW recovery minister, Janelle Saffin. Photograph: Elise DerwinChels Hood Withey (right) spent eight days camping outside Saffin’s office before they were moved on by police. Photograph: Elise Derwin

The northern rivers continues to have some of the highest rates of homelessness in NSW. Byron shire had 291 rough sleepers in 2025, second only to the City of Sydney, according to the state government’s street count, although the number has reduced since 2024.

Questions remain over the assessment criteria for buybacks and what will be done with those homes already bought back, which can be relocated or demolished and the materials recycled.

The house Hood Withey occupied in Mullumbimby was the only house on the street to be bought back. The street itself had not been severely flooded, and the RA said the house had been purchased under “exceptional circumstances” and would now be transitioned to social housing.

The RA told Guardian Australia the other buyback houses from which squatters were evicted were not safe, noting that some, including on Lismore’s Pine Street, were evacuated during Cyclone Alfred in February. It said “almost all” of the occupants were not residents of the region prior to the 2022 disaster.

But others who have been evicted since were flood victims. Soon after the evictions at the 10 properties covered by the supreme court decision, Alison* was evicted from a buyback she was squatting in in Lismore.

She moved her family into temporary accommodation in a South Ballina caravan park last week. The 41-year-old mother of three had already been housed in the park for more than a year, after the 2022 floods saw her North Lismore rental inundated and rendered unliveable.

Alison has been homeless multiple times in the past three years. Photograph: Elise Derwin

Alison, who has complex PTSD and has undergone counselling for childhood sexual assault, says the 2022 floods precipitated the complete upheaval of her life.

“I lost everything,” she says.

Alison had left the caravan park and returned to her North Lismore rental after it was renovated following the floods, but suffered a breakdown following the end of her 13-year relationship, leaving her a single parent.

Unable to continue working in disability support, she was evicted after falling behind on rent – for the first time, she says – while living off parenting pension payments worth $870 a fortnight. “$700 a fortnight was rent. It was just impossible,” she says.

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Is it safer for me to put a tent down the river bank with my kids than to be in one of these houses after the flood?Alison

Her oldest child, now an adult, moved in with her partner. Their unit could accomodate Alison’s two younger children, but not Alison or the family animals, including a beloved Staffordshire terrier.

Alison says the negative attention on backpackers squatting in buybacks has overlooked the problem of locals who have been left homeless after the floods. “A lot of single mums,” she says.

Living on the edge of homelessness, she says the security and stability of living in a buyback outweighs the potential risks, even during times of flood.

“Is it safer for me to put a tent down the river bank with my kids than to be in one of these houses after the flood?”

A spokesperson for the RA said the resilient homes program “was the largest home buyback and resilience initiative in Australia’s history”.

“Hundreds of flood-affected homeowners are already on their way to safer, more secure futures,” they said.

The spokesperson said raise and retrofit streams were only launched in July 2024. Saffin told budget estimates she hoped more house-raising and retrofitting would now occur. The RA is also targeting the completion of 1,500 tailored flood resilience assessments for northern rivers homeowners by mid-2026.

Alison packs up her belongings after being evicted from the Lismore buyback she was squatting in. Photograph: Elise Derwin

Returning to the caravan park was Alison’s only option to live with her two younger children and her animals again, and keep her primary school-aged son at the same school.

A neighbour has been driving them to the school bus, but without public transport links, Alison has been left stranded during the day, without access to food shopping.

In Lismore she had been able to depend on free meals and groceries from Five Loaves, but now in Ballina she can no longer reach the food charity.

The charity’s coordinator, Lina Willis, says the floods and cost-of-living crisis means increasing numbers of people living in tents, cars and temporary accommodation rely on the charity. “A lot of people can no longer afford to pay rent,” she says.

Greens MP Higginson, a Lismore resident, characterises the resilient homes program as “a game of winners and losers”.

“We have seen some people get buybacks early in the scheme … They are getting on with their lives, and then there are the rest.”

Less than a week after moving back into the caravan park, Alison told Guardian Australia she had her accommodation “terminated” , leaving her homeless for the fifth time in three years.

Before this latest development, while she faced an unknown wait for social housing, Alison said she was contemplating finding another buyback to squat in.

“It’s a nightmare I’m not waking up from.”

*Alison’s surname has not been published for privacy reasons.