The Non-Government Organisation (NGO) is raising awareness of overcrowding of homes leading to “noise and nuisance” during this Homelessness Prevention Week ending Sunday.

OSS is one of the NGOs funded by the NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) to support people struggling to keep roofs over their heads.

On Tuesday OSS chief executive officer Peter Gallagher said the bulk of people “without a permanent address” in Dubbo were not living outdoors.

While some were couch surfing or squatting, “most homeless people are living within our community in overcrowded situations, with families and friends”, he said.

“The biggest issue in Dubbo is there is very little affordable housing for people on low incomes,” Mr Gallagher said.

“If they’re on Centrelink payments, really there’s nothing in Dubbo they can afford.”

Mr Gallagher said the wait for discounted social housing through Housing NSW and not-for-profit Compass Housing had been known to “extend to six years”.

Homes packed to the rafters put all occupants at risk of eviction because they could generate excessive noise and behaviour issues, he said.

“We’ve had some people who are desperate and take houses at $400 a week and they are only on $500 a week,” Mr Gallagher said.

“We say ‘you cannot afford this’ but they do it anyway. They get into trouble after two months. They can’t fed themselves, can’t clothe the kids and get behind in the rent.

“The cost of housing and the cost of living is huge for low-income families.” 

OSS runs refuges in Dubbo for victims of domestic violence and homeless adults, as well as having access to seven “transitional” homes, part of Housing NSW stock.

In 2014/2015 it provided more than 200 people with crisis accommodation.

Mr Gallagher said “people who we can’t support and have absolutely no where to stay” ring the Housing NSW LinkToHome line for temporary accommodation in the likes of motels.

OSS services also involve assisting people applying for social housing and offering them a “small amount of brokerage” for rent and bonds.

This financial year it has received $1.12 million from FACS to help 655 adults and families in Dubbo, Wellington and Narromine, up to 60 per cent of them Aboriginal.

Mr Gallagher does not consider that the construction of more social housing to be “practical”.

“The government can’t just keep building houses,” he said.

“The tax dollars are just not there to do that.”

OSS joined forces with Centrelink and fellow NGOs, including UnitingCare Burnside and Mission Australia, to raise awareness of homelessness in downtown Dubbo on Tuesday.

Mr Gallagher confirmed that UnitingCare Burnside had a contract with FACS to help the homeless and those at risk of homelessness in the age demographic of 16 to 24 years. 

He said Mission Australian ran homeless programs throughout Western NSW.

“Homelessness is an issue right across and right through our community,” Mr Gallagher said.

“It is growing as the gap between income and housing costs grows.”

NSW Deputy Premier and Dubbo MP Troy Grant has announced that Western NSW will receive $9.8 million of the state government’s “record investment” of $182 million in specialist homelessness services in 2015/2016