The council's acting chief executive Lenny Jenner spoke at a meeting of the Victorian government's inquiry into homelessness, held in Wangaratta on Thursday, to give a unique perspective on what is happening in the Upper Murray after the summer bushfires.

"It was wonderful that the committee reached out to look a little bit more laterally at the question of homelessness because homelessness in terms of an event has problems that are incredibly difficult to resolve," he said.

"How do we respond to this intense, very difficult circumstance in people's lives?"

The council has recorded that 49 families who had homes destroyed or damaged in the fires have remained on their properties.

"That is in caravans and some tents. We have no evidence of anyone sleeping rough, so to speak," Mr Jenner said.

But other elderly residents have not been able to do the same, and made the decision to leave Towong to move to aged care facilities in Albury or Wodonga.

"We've already heard from people during the fires who would have never made this decision to move into aged accommodation," Mr Jenner said.

"It would never have been their choice and I suspect we're going to see that as the weight of what's unfolded is realised."

He said it would be preferable to offer alternatives to keep them in the region.

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Wangaratta-based MP Tania Maxwell sits on the Legal and Social Issues Committee conducting the inquiry.

She expressed concerns about elderly people having to sign contracts for the aged care facilities in the wake of the fires.

"It's a very difficult time to be making those long-term choices," she said.

Towong Council is looking at a timeframe of as much as four years to rebuild homes - by the time people work through the planning processes, decide if they will stay or leave the region and get the builders and labourers who will be in high demand.

Mr Jenner said Colac Colac Caravan Park had received a government grant to expand its cabin accommodation for people in the region who have become homeless, which was not ideal but could be of help.

A homeless person in the North East can be anyone from an infant of a young mother seeking refuge to a single man who ends up on the bottom of the list for receiving help.

Workers from Junction Support Services explained the range of issues their clients faced when they appeared before the homelessness inquiry.

Senior manager and homelessness expert Katharine Hodgens told the Victorian MPs who travelled to Wangaratta for the hearing that Junction Support Services sees about 1000 people every year, but that would just be the tip of the iceberg.

"Homelessness across North East Victoria is a growing problem and what we are seeing is very alarming," she said.

They told the inquiry that they try to provide a "double intervention" for clients - looking at immediate crisis support, as well as the need for early intervention to prevent homelessness in the first place.

But that must be done without ongoing job security as they have to fight for state and federal government funding every year.

Client services manager Michelle Fell outlined Junction Support Services' "Wodonga project", which aims to support at-risk young people before they end up on the path of homelessness, but said "so much more work needs to be done".

Others to appear at the inquiry included representatives from Wangaratta Council, Women's Health Goulburn North East, La Trobe University and North East Support & Action For Youth.

Submissions can still be made to the inquiry until Monday on the Legal and Social Issues Committee website.