Homelessness is a growing concern in the North East and on the Border, with an increased number of people reported homeless in Wangaratta, more people waiting for housing in Albury-Wodonga and increasing rent and cost of living adding pressure to people already under financial stress.

The community of Yarrawonga-Mulwala have also noticed a jump in the number of people sleeping on the street, in cars or camping by river banks over the last few months.

Yarrawonga's Matthew Olney said he knew of about five people sleeping in cars or camping in one section of the river, where he too was living until not long ago.

"I was down the river camping-slash-homeless," he said.

"I've had a client of mine offer me a room at her house for about three months now and as stubborn as I am, as tough as I am, I was getting too cold and a bit lonely, so I've taken the offer and she's taken me in."

Mr Olney runs his own bathroom renovations business and said a number of factors contributed to his period of homelessness, including a fine and a non-paying customer when his accounts were stretched.

"It was hard working out of a swag and a camper trailer," he said.

"During that time I probably lost a lot of work.

"I've got friends and family around here, unfortunately nowhere I could have stayed."

Mr Olney said homelessness could happen to anyone.

"It's not always what people think, it's not everyone that's drunks or people who are drug affected," he said.

"It could be a business owner that's been through army training.

"And thank god I did my army training, because you might not be speaking to me now, it got tough, it sure did."

Mr Olney is now part of a group of concerned residents who have come together to provide assistance to others sleeping rough.

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Mulwala resident Amber Gower, who is also part of the group, started a GoFundMe to raise money to buy supplies and to start a mobile soup kitchen for the community's homeless.

"There's a group of about six to eight of us that have been working together," she said.

"With all the rental increases and the lack of rentals here, we heard that there was a lot of people that were living rough down by the river, so we ended up finding one of them, which led us to a lot more.

"Once I met some of the homeless people I thought 'we need to fix this'."

Ms Gower estimated there's be about a dozen people sleeping rough in isolated camps around different bends of the river.

"No one should have to be sleeping outside in winter just for a start," she said.

"Seeing some of the conditions people are living in, it's just not enough to brace through the winter with."

Ms Gower said the concerned residents had recently had a meeting with various organisations such as the police, Yarrawonga Health, Beyond Housing, various church groups and the Country Women's Association and other groups to collaborate on solutions.

"We've proposed what we want to do and now all the other groups have gone back to their organisations and put the ideas to them," she said.

Ms Gower said while the group was planning for bigger goals it had been collecting donations to provide immediate relief.

"We've got blankets, and pillows and toiletries," she said.

"We've done a few trips out to the river to deliver food packages, we've been trying to help one homeless man try to get one rental that's come up in Yarra at the moment and trying to help him clean up his camp in case he does get it.

"At the moment the group is just run online, but that being said once we come together with the other welfare organisations I think the Neighborhood House is going to be our hub."

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