Beyond Housing's Celia Adams said property prices on the border had increased significantly in the past year, as had demand for rentals.

Domain's latest house price report shows median house prices rose 9.9 per cent in Albury in 2020, 12.1 per cent in Wangaratta, 5.0 per cent in Wodonga, 10.3 per cent in Alpine Shire, 9.8 per cent in Benalla and 5.9 per cent in Indigo Shire.

Ms Adams believes as a result when the moratorium ends, rents will increase. Additionally come April 1, residents will owe lump-sum arrears for unpaid rent.

"There are so many issues at play, all happening all at once," Ms Adams said.

"We anticipate a significant increase in the number of people needing to access homelessness prevention services... including new people who haven't needed to access services before."

Uniting Care gambling and financial counselling team leader Kaily Goodsell said April 1 also marks the end to the coronavirus JobSeeker supplement.

She said Uniting Care Albury had seen an influx of people fearful of eviction.

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"The number of people needing rental properties exceeds the number rental properties in the region and because of that demand in the market prices will continue to go up," she said.

A recent examination of current rentals showed there was only one property available in the North East that was affordable for a lone person on JobSeeker.

"Those on very low income or set income like Centrelink are further being squeezed out rental market," Ms Adams said.

St Vincent de Paul's Jack de Groot said the moratorium was a ticking time bomb.

"When it goes off in a few weeks the fallout will have a lasting impact," he said.

"We are extremely concerned that months of back-dated rent will condemn people into debt that will follow them for years to come."

The wait for social housing remains lengthy and Ms Adams believes some residents will turn to couch-surfing or rough sleeping if they are evicted.

Ms Adams said tree-changers had flooded the already small pool of Border rentals and vacancy rates were extremely low.

In addition, many Border AirBnB properties were converted to rentals in 2020 due to travel restrictions, but it's likely these will again be taken out of the rental market.

Ms Adams said landlords were entitled to seek the best return on their investment but the government should provide adequate support to keep people out of poverty.

"Across the country we're expecting to see a significant increase in homelessness numbers," she said. "I feel the federal government is out of touch in terms of what it actually costs to survive."

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