Richelle Patterson and son Bailey forced to live in hotel due to Hunter housing crisis

The NSW Hunter Valley pair were left homeless in December and have been unable to find a permanent place to live since.

Ms Patterson said she had tried domestic violence shelters Carrie's Place and Jodie's Place, contacted Compass Housing and applied for hundreds of rentals with no luck.

"My days consist of just looking for houses," she said. "It's been very mentally draining."

The situation has also been particularly disruptive on her son Bailey, who has an intellectual disability, ADHD and is on the Autism spectrum, so thrives on routine and structure.

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Unfortunately, Ms Patterson's situation is not a rare one. Rental vacancy rates have dropped as low as 0.3 per cent in parts of the region this year, and homelessness services have been completely overwhelmed.

Upper Hunter Homelessness Service general manager Lewis Millington-Plazey said the service was funded to work with 442 people a year, but was seeing double that.

"And funding for those services hasn't changed since 2014, when there was no data on homelessness in the Upper Hunter at all," he said. "We have access to nine properties across the entire Upper Hunter to house 800-900 people per year.

"On top of that we have landlords charging $400 per room on the private rental market, meaning they are totally out of reach for anyone on JobSeeker or a pension."

Hunter Community Alliance, which is a cohort of community organisations, environmental groups, unions and religious organisations, conducted a six month listening and consultation process with 155 people which found that insecure, unaffordable housing and homelessness were the most immediate issues causing stress and trauma for people across the Hunter.

The process found that a lack of rental options, domestic violence, gender inequality, underemployment and no-fault evictions were all contributing factors.

Hunter Community Alliance organiser Callan Lawrence said governments of all parties had neglected the housing and homelessness crisis over the past decade.

"Our listening campaign showed us that people right across the Hunter, all demographics, were affected," Mr Lawrence said.

"Women over 50 are particularly at risk of homelessness for various reasons, but largely because many have spent their lives caring for families and are now poor. Domestic violence is another contributing factor.

"But it is also families with two working parents, people on disability pensions, and people running their own businesses who are finding they have nowhere to go."

Mr Lawrence also said the mining sector had contributed a lot to the Upper Hunter but had also caused many problems and that candidates in the upcoming by-election should be focusing on housing.

"How is it 'a fair go' when we have international mining companies extracting billions of dollars of wealth from Muswellbrook and Singleton, while people from the region are sleeping rough under bridges, in tents and their cars? The fact that there are not enough homes to house the region's citizens is a disgrace," he said.

"All the candidates want to talk about is coal mining, but they also need to talk about funding social housing, funding for homelessness and DV services, and ending no-fault evictions, for a start."

Mr Millington-Plazey said some people were making a fortune in the Upper Hunter while many others were sleeping under the bridge, or in the park, or in their cars.

"There are shutdowns on at a power station and a mine right now and that means we can't put people into any of the hotels or caravan parks we often use for temporary emergency housing because they are all full of out-of-town workers," he said.

Meanwhile, Shortland MP Pat Conroy has called on the federal government to allocate funding in this week's budget to address the crisis.

"If you'd listen to the language coming from the Prime Minister and Treasurer about Australia's economic comeback from this pandemic, you'd be forgiven for thinking that things are getting back to normal for most people," he said.

"For a lot of people in this region, that couldn't be further from the truth.

"It is getting harder and more expensive to find a place to live.

"Local food banks and crisis support services have been telling me for months that they're seeing more people needing assistance than ever before. They have exhausted their resources and are struggling to support vulnerable residents.

"This issue is not going away. The Morrison Government must commit to an investment in more social and affordable housing in this week's budget."