More than 10 families are benefiting right now through such assistance from the Department of Family and Community Service.

But at times that number has grown to 20, in an upward trend the department says shows no signs of abating. For women and their children, domestic violence is the main cause of homelessness.

For the unit, as for many agencies across the region,a growing problem is housing affordability.

Issues with mental health, which can make assessments of a person’s situation far more difficult to take, also figure largely in the work done by the department.

“Very few people present as homeless without having other issues,” the department’s housing manager in Albury Michael Whiteside said.

Mr Whiteside said often people with a mental health problem who became homeless were not even aware they had such an illness, which made an assessment difficult.

“It’s not a condition of us working with them. If they choose not to engage with us we still continue to work with them. But the outcomes often are not as good.”

Seeking help was a low point in clients’ lives.

Mr Whiteside said they tried to reassure people that “we’re with them” until their housing situation was resolved.

“The initial discussions have got to be fairly frank. And we do ask direct questions about drug and alcohol, about mental illness, about other support, about their family situation – particularly focusing on the safety of children,” he said.

“If they’re experiencing domestic violence we put them in touch with Betty’s Place. We then initiate temporary accommodation for them if they’ve got nowhere safe to sleep that night. We put them up in motels, caravan parks, a whole range of options.”

Team leader Allan Mason said it was important the department had close relations with partners such as yes unlimited.

“There’s not much we can do about affordability of rent so it’s about working as hard as we can with our partners to find the appropriate accommodation that is out there.”

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