Ballarat's main housing support agency Uniting has assisted 235 households into crisis accommodation (motels and hotels) since mid-March.

This is more than two and a half times the regular number for a three month period and equates to around four people a day being assisted into accommodation.

Meanwhile, 114 households are waiting to be placed into crisis accommodation on the organisation's priority list.

Uniting is aware of more than 30 people sleeping rough in the region, struggling through cold winter nights.

Cliff Moxon has been living in his caravan in Learmonth for the past year, finding himself homeless after a marriage breakdown.

The 65-year-old reached out to Uniting for support after he ran out of savings, could no longer pay the weekly caravan park rent and feared he would end up sleeping rough.

Uniting housing and homelessness entry point worker Juelz Sanders helped Mr Moxon afford to stay at the park and sign up for Centrelink.

"Cliff had been paying the weekly rent out of his savings, that is what was left from selling the family home and paying for the van," she said.

"It is quite a common story. Relationship breakdowns and homelessness go hand in hand."

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COVID-19 has created extra challenges for people experiencing homelessness.

People living temporarily in caravan parks or moving from park to park were kicked out due to COVID-19 restrictions, leaving limited alternative options.

Mr Moxon was able to stay at the park as he had been a long-term resident and did not need access to shared facilities.

As his savings dwindled, Mr Moxon attempted to sign up to receive Centrelink payments, but was told this would have to be done online as face to face contact was suspended.

"I am not that good on computers unfortunately," he said.

With only $90 left in his bank account, Mr Moxon made contact with Uniting and has received help signing up for Centrelink and applying for public housing.

He said he was now feeling relieved to have the option to stay at the caravan park, or move into housing when it becomes available.

"The support has been absolutely fantastic," Mr Moxon said.

"There are places around that do help. The public should know about it, because it works."

When asked why he did not seek help earlier, Mr Moxon said: "With all the hassles, you get into a rut. You need a shake to wake up."

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Ms Sanders said there were many factors that could cause people to quickly move from having a roof over their head to homelessness and many found it difficult to reach out to services.

"I don't think we realise how quickly we can go from having a house to not. We are all much closer to that than we have ever been before," she said.

In the three months since March, Uniting has spent $260,000 assisting people in the private rental market to pay rent arrears and bonds.

This is an increase of 300 per cent since COVID-19 hit.

Uniting has spent $100,000 on helping people in crisis accommodation in that same period.

Uniting Ballarat acting coordinator housing and homelessness Adam Liversage said complex factors led to homelessness, including family breakdowns, family violence and poverty.

He said he was concerned Uniting would see an influx of more people experiencing homelessness when COVID-19 supplement payments JobKeeper and the doubled JobSeeker end.

"When those double payments are reduced, we are going to see singles and couples not being able to sustain their crisis accommodation at hotels and motels," he said.

"In the interim, I don't think we are going to be able to keep up paying or co-paying for people in crisis accommodation, especially when you are looking at 235 households.

"Our spending since March 1 has been close to $100,000 in a three month period. If they cancel COVID-19 government payments we are going to need to double that."

Mr Liversage said a funding boost had helped Uniting increase its spending to support people into crisis accommodation, but there would be a massive shortfall when that funding runs out on June 30.

"We are averaging just over $30,000 a month. Our monthly income from the department is only $14,000 a month. We are going to be finding ourselves around $16,000 short on average," he said.

"That means we can't provide a response. The flow on effect of that is we will see more people ending up on the streets because we don't have any other options. And it is the same old story with housing shortages."

While the numbers indicate a dire situation for hundreds of people in Ballarat, Mr Liversage said there were some positives to be taken from the past few months.

He said more hotels and motels had expressed a desire to continue offering reduced weekly rates for people needing crisis accommodation.

Another positive is people placed in that crisis accommodation have been receiving ongoing outreach support throughout coronavirus, something Uniting does not have the capacity to regularly provide.

Mr Liversage said staff had time to visit hotels and motels to conduct welfare checks and distribute food hampers and vouchers because they were not able to visit houses and meet face to face with their regular clients.

"We are hoping as a result of this we can show the department what a success and great outcome it has been," he said.

"I think anyone who is placed in crisis accommodation should receive some sort of immediate support. Hopefully the government looks at the funding for those type of programs and increases resources and money."

Mr Liversage said Uniting was preparing for the number of people experiencing homelessness to increase in the next few months, particularly when the moratorium on evictions is lifted.

"It is going to be a really busy six months coming up for community services. We are bracing ourselves for the impact," he said.

"As long as we are funded properly and we are resourced I think we can handle it."

If you are experiencing or at risk of homelessness, you can ring the 24-hour Victorian hotline for assistance on 1800 825 955.

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