Housing crisis pushing people into poverty: Report from NSW Council of Social Service

New England has been included in the report highlighting pressure on homeowners and in the rental market.

The reports shows poverty rates for homeowners with a mortgage in the region north of Armidale has almost quadrupled since 2016.

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In Inverell the number of homeowners and renters facing poverty has more than doubled in that same time.

Meanwhile, the poverty rates for Moree residents in the private rental market has tripled in those seven years since 2016.

In Glen Innes, the rate of residents needing public housing has increased by almost 80 per cent in that time.

The report was done by the NSW Council of Social Service and conducted by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling at the University of Canberra.

Homes North community housing chief executive Maree McKenzie said there has been a spike in homelessness since January along with more struggling in private and public housing across New England.

"It's distressing to see so many people struggling in our community and we're starting to see people who we've never seen before," she said.

"We're getting more people presenting as homeless and a lot more of them are experiencing housing stress.

"We have to spend much more time with tenants now to support them with cost of living initiatives and we've ramped up our activity around providing free goods.

Homes North also assist people in the private market.

They are finding that many people in the region on low incomes are struggling to pay more than 25 per cent of their wage towards rent.

"When the rents go up by 15 per cent, they're trying to find money that they don't have," Ms McKenzie said. "It's right across the region, too."

"A lot of properties now aren't owned by people in the region and they don't rent them out to long-term tenants.

"It's pretty distressing from a housing perspective, we were in a good position in the region 20 years ago.

"If we maintained development of social housing with a bit more forward thinking, we would be in a much better position then we are now.

"This isn't something you can fix quickly, it's very encouraging that the federal government has committed to a national housing plan.

"The Housing Australia Future Fund that's trying to work its way through parliament now is a good start.

"Housing is critical and it's been hard to be listened to among all the other louder voices focussed on big infrastructure."

NSW Council of Social Service chief executive Joanna Quilty said the report is a wakeup call for the state's leaders, urging the NSW Government to respond quickly.

"These statistics are devastating, showing the grim reality of poverty reaching into every suburb and town in NSW - but with some communities really bearing the brunt," Ms Quilty said.

"What we are seeing is a housing crisis on multiple fronts - people experiencing poverty in rural and regional areas are most likely to be in the private rental market, but it's those still paying off a mortgage who are increasingly struggling.

"And while public housing tenants in rural and regional NSW are small in number, the majority of them (more than 58 per cent) live below the poverty line."