Without his permanent home at a caravan park south of Port Macquarie, Frank Ellul and his wife would have "nowhere else to go".
The Brigadoon Holiday Park resident has been slowly rebuilding after the park flooded in March last year and would rather stay and rebuild if it happened again.
"Where else can we get affordable rent? There's nowhere," Mr Ellul said.
"We're on the last of our money. We can't do nothing but sit and hope nothing happens."
The future for residents such as Mr Ellul is uncertain after the NSW government has agreed in principle with a recommendation from the 2022 NSW Flood Inquiry that "permanent residency in caravan parks … situated below the risk-based flood planning level" be prohibited.
The recommendation was prompted by the finding that many caravan parks are taking on greater permanency in places not designed for long-term accommodation.
But Mr Ellul says unless the government finds him somewhere to live, he will be "stuck".
"Are the government going to help us out? I mean, are they going to find us a place?" he said.
"If we have to squat here we'll squat here … we bought the place for retirement [and] fixed the place up."
'Thousands' of affected residents
There are nearly 500 caravan parks and manufactured home estates registered around NSW with many of them built on flood-liable land, according to the Affiliated Residential Park Residents Association (ARPRA).
Chief executive Gary Martin says of the 36,000 people who live in caravan parks in NSW "thousands" of them will be affected.
"I don't know where we're going to put them when we're in the middle of a housing crisis already," he said.
"We can't respectively turf out literally thousands of people as this recommendation suggests."
A manager at Brigadoon Holiday Park, Claire Stevenson, says the risk of flooding doesn't deter people from moving to the area.
"If anything, we're still getting people applying, wanting to come and live in the caravan park," she said.
"With the current housing issues … the holiday parks tend to be a much more affordable way of living for young families or [the] over-50s.
"This is like a retirement place for a lot of people as well, so I think it's absolutely insane that they're even suggesting banning that.
"There's still a lot of trauma … a lot of mental health issues.
"I just think it's a very bad idea, especially after what everybody has been through."
Ms Stevenson said while the park has had many floods that have come up to ankle-deep, so far properties haven't been overly affected.
Parks rely on residents for income
Craig Knox, the manager of Broadwater Sunrise Caravan Park in the Northern Rivers, is still undertaking a "massive" clean-up after record-breaking floods.
He said his park would struggle to remain viable without permanent residents and that would be the case for many caravan parks around NSW.
"Most of them are built by a river or on low, flat land so I just don't know how that will go," he said.
"Most [caravan parks] … do rely on permanent tenants for their incomes.
"Our income was probably … 80 per cent from our permanents."
Mr Knox said the region's housing crisis meant many permanent residents relied on his park for accommodation.
"They can't just push people out of their houses, it's just not feasible," he said.
Further consideration needed
But Brigadoon Holiday Park resident John Peebles said the proposed ban was a "brilliant idea".
"[It] should have been in place 25 to 35 years ago. It's a pity we've had to wait til this disaster," he said.
"To do this would probably take a generation," he said.
However, Mr Peebles said measures would need to be put in place to support residents financially and they would need to be accommodated while the transformation was taking place.
"Accommodation for people who are less fortunate — [there's] none," he said.
"People are sleeping in cars and tents."
In its response to the recommendation, the government said:
"Further consideration needs to be given to the impacts of the recommendation on current residents and vulnerable people, and how it could best support them with alternative accommodation options if permanent residency in caravan parks and mobile housing estates is no longer an option," a statement said.
