Homelessness agencies that spoke to The Border Mail pointed out the obvious problems caused by such affordability issues.

Central to the problem is climbing rents, but the makeup of those factors that drain people’s often-limited incomes is causing more and more people headaches.

Inevitably it is what leads to individuals and families no longer being able to afford to keep their homes.

yes unlimited client services manager Jon Park said cost-of-living issues had especially begun to bite over the past five years.

“And the Youth Allowance hasn’t gone up in years,” he said.

“The cost of living has gone up in all sorts of ways – power, groceries, all those things have gone up.

“But for a young person, potentially 16, who can’t live at home for all sorts of reasons it’s pretty hard to get independent accommodation and sustain that.”

Mr Park previously cited the example of rentals, for example, that had risen from $90 a week five years ago to about $150.

“Some of the things we’re looking at is trying to support young people with shared living options, trying to facilitate that.”

Hume Region Homelessness Network co-ordinator Jan Armstrong highlighted the 2017 Newstart Allowance fortnightly payment, noting how a single person with no children was entitled to a payment of $535.60, plus rent assistance of $130.40.

Out of that she calculated reasonable expenses of $360 a fortnight for rent, $40 for gas, $50 for electricity, $40 for the phone and $150 for food, the total outlay reaching $640.

"If the average rental property in Wodonga is $240 a week, that’s $480 out of a budget of $666,” she said.

“I’ve spoken to workers this week who have seen people come into the agencies where they’re spending 85 per cent of their average weekly earnings on rent.

“Everybody has been saying you cannot have people living well below the poverty line and not expect them to get into housing difficulties.”