Thousands of people have applied for buy-backs in the wake of last year’s NSW Northern Rivers flooding catastrophe. 

A recent public meeting was told that only 25 homes have been properly assessed for potential buybacks by the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation (NRRC).

The NRRC is in charge of overseeing the region's recovery from the flood, which damaged thousands of homes on February 28 last year.

It has access to a funding pool of $700 million for buybacks, house raising and refitting as part of the state’s Resilient Homes Program, which was announced three months ago.

The NRRC expected about 2,000 homes to be eligible for each category of assistance, but chief executive David Witherdin says over 8,000 applications have already been received.

“We're certainly oversubscribed for that already,” he said.

“Our focus has really been on those homes that are at highest risk and will be eligible for voluntary purchase.”

He said independent valuations were completed for just 25 homes.

“We hope to be in a position next week to be making the first offers for voluntary purchase,” he said.

“We've got an enormous program of work ahead of us - we're underway with that and I think over the next few weeks and months things will really start to accelerate.”

Lismore mayor Jenny Dowell says locals need certainty.

“Everywhere you go there is frustration,” she said.

“Not knowing what the future holds is normal after a huge, disastrous event like this.

“But the corporation has not helped, because they didn't come on board early enough and now communication is so poor.

“If you're only doing 25 now and you've got [thousands more], what's your timeline here?

“It just seems unrealistic to think by the middle of the year that people will have some certainty.

“The figures just don't add up … there's still a lot up in the air.”