For most of the past 12 months, Ashley (whose name has been changed for privacy reasons) has been living in a tent pitched between eucalyptus trees by the Ovens River at Wangaratta in north-east Victoria.
The handful of tents dotted among the vegetation along a stretch of river close to the town's centre are visible from a public walking track.
"People think we can't hear, but we can," Ashley said.
"We've had people walk past and say we should have died in the floods."
Ashley said living in a tent was supposed to be temporary when she moved from Bendigo — along with her husband — to be closer to her children who are in out-of-home care.
"There's no point lying," Ashley said.
She said she and her husband became addicted to methamphetamines and had relapsed over the past year.
"It's hard to not go back to that because of the way we're living," she said, adding "you just want to go back to it because it's easier".
Ashley said they were sleeping in a tent inside a bigger tent because of leaks.
"[It] doesn't matter how many blankets we have, we can't keep warm," she said.
With one and two-bedroom homes being listed for about $500 a week, rentals are unattainable on the Jobseeker payment.
"We're not living, we're just surviving," Ashley said.
'It all just snowballed'
Sabrina Hasson has lived in Wangaratta for about 11 years.
She said she had been homeless for almost five of them.
With rent unaffordable, Ms Hasson lives on a free camping ground in a caravan, and regularly walks for 45 minutes to an hour into town.
"It all just snowballed and snowballed," she said.
First, she got behind in rent. The she lost her job.
"I was homeless to start with, but I prefer to be called off-grid," Ms Hasson said.
Ms Hasson, who also receives the Jobseeker payment, said it could be "exhausting" to budget on, but one of the biggest challenges was the stigma and treatment by some in the community.
She said she would like to be treated with respect.
"They don't like seeing us out there," she said.
"I don't see why we should have to go and hide somewhere. There's no housing for us.
"Anyone can be homeless in a matter of time. You could lose your job, your marriage, your house."
A 'particularly alarming' example
Over the past five years, homelessness rates in Wangaratta have increased 67 per cent, according to Beyond Housing, a housing support not-for-profit that operates throughout north-east Victoria and the Goulburn Valley.
Acting chief executive Charlie Bird said demand had increased and even "skyrocketed" for private rental support services, due to the decline in rental affordability, the supply of rental properties and rising basic living costs.
The number of households on the priority list has increased by 89 per cent in Wodonga and 70 per cent in Wangaratta and Benalla, he said.
Wangaratta is the Member for Indi Helen Haines's home turf.
"People are in crisis when it comes to finding affordable housing," she said, adding that Wangaratta served as a "particularly alarming" example.
Ms Haines said rental vacancy rates were at "eye-waveringly low levels" of just "point 1 per cent" in the town.
It's the result of "inadequate investment into social and affordable housing", she said.
"There is nowhere for these people who are struggling for a variety of reasons."
Many people were on "extremely low" income support payments, such as Jobseeker and Youth Allowance, and were unable to afford housing to help "break that nexus of poverty", Ms Haines said.
Ms Haines has repeatedly called on the federal government to create a national housing infrastructure fund, which she said would help fix supply issues, get housing projects off the ground, and ensure a mix of options for homes in regional towns.
'A quick step to homelessness'
Sheryle Blenman has been offering up warm clothes and hot food to some of those struggling, after coming across Ashley on a community Facebook page.
She said she'd been in the area for 20 years and was "just helping out" with her husband.
Ms Blenman said homelessness was "definitely getting worse", having "helped people out that are in their homes but can't afford the food".
When her son got sick a few years ago her own household's finances were very tight.
"It's just a quick step to homelessness," she said.
"If you lose your job, or your rent goes up and you can't afford it, you're in the same boat."
Ms Blenman has lived in her current home – a rental – for 12 years and has a "fantastic landlord and good rent" but she worries what would happen if the house was sold.
"We can't afford the rents here," she said.
