The figures will also show that almost 70 people on the Border were sleeping in the streets when the 2006 census was done.

In Albury alone almost 400 people were identified as homeless in a mix of emergency accommodation, boarding houses, living with friends, on the street and holed up in caravan parks on census night.

There were 343 people considered homeless in Wodonga.

Border social workers yesterday said the data was more accurate than past attempts and supported by an increasing demand at refuges across the two cities.

The national Counting the Homeless reports have been produced for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare by Associate Professor Chris Chamberlain, Director of the Centre for Applied Social Research at RMIT, and Associate Professor David MacKenzie, from the Institute for Social Research at Swinburne University.

The NSW report puts Albury’s homelessness rate at 80 people for every 10,000 residents.

Wodonga is only marginally better at 74.

Both are nearly double the NSW and Victorian average of 42.

Professor Chamberlain said Albury’s rate had increased significantly from the 2001 census and was recognised by researchers as having one of the highest levels of homelessness in the country.

“Local service providers also reported a significant increase in supported accommodation in recent years,” he said.

Wodonga’s Rural Housing Network client services manager Darran Stonehouse said the figures came as no surprise.

“Homelessness is a massive issue that is only just beginning to get the attention of the public and governments,” he said.

“The lack of emergency accommodation on the Border is having a significant impact on the problem.

“We tend to look at Albury-Wodonga as a community and yet we have just one men’s refuge, two youth refuges and one women’s refuge that is always full.”

Helen Young, the manager of Albury men’s shelter Quamby House, said they were seeing increasing numbers of homelessness.

“There is also a shift in clientele,” she said.

“We used to deal with transient males but increasingly we are getting referrals and presentations from the community and a much younger demographic.

“The causes range from drug and alcohol abuse, gambling and mental health.”

The Wangaratta statistical district, that also includes Rutherglen, was also well above the Victorian average.

For the first time the 2006 census collection included details of people in homeless shelters and refuges.