The federal government's $4.6 million campaign to get more people to live in the regions may add to Nowra's social housing crisis.

The social housing waiting list in Nowra is five to 10 years for most property types with around 700 households on the list.

Gilmore MP Fiona Phillips said the state of the rental and affordable housing problem was "dire".

"We have the lowest rental availability in NSW," she said.

She said the timing of Michael McCormack's announcement of a campaign which aims to get more people into the regions is "questionable".

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"I don't think the minister understands what's going on in regional NSW, I just don't think he's got any idea," she said.

"That's $4.6 million that could have been invested in affordable housing. We've got projects ready to go in this area right now.

"I know Shoalhaven City Council with Southern Cross Community Housing have a site in Bomaderry ready [for investment]."

Social housing is an umbrella term for public and community housing. The main difference between the two is that community housing is provided by not-for-profits and public housing is provided by the state. In NSW the two types of housing are consolidated under one list.

In Nowra and eight other districts, the NSW government transferred management of all properties to community housing providers over 2018/19. All properties in Nowra are managed by Southern Cross Community Housing.

Ms Phillips said the issue had been compounded by the ban on international flights and the bushfires with over 1000 people living in temporary accommodation.

"We've got a lot more people holidaying locally. We've lost a lot of that private stock to affordable housing and I'm just seeing more and more people struggling every day, to even find housing.

"I visited a local homelessness provider last week and they're feeding over 700 families a week. There is a serious problem with the lack of housing in this area, and my estimate is it's going to get worse."

The UK and Australia had a similar program at the start of the pandemic that took homeless people off the streets and into emergency accommodation in order to minimise the spread of COVID. Part of the aim of the program was to get these homeless people into longer term housing.

However, the key difference between the two countries, according to a recent rental housing and homelessness report by UNSW and the Australian Council of Social Services, is that the UK's version was funded by the national government.

The majority of people finding long term housing in the UK was double that of Australia, whereas in Australia the amount of people placed in this program who moved into long term housing was only a small minority.

The report's authors said the main explanation is because of the drastically greater challenge posed to governments and NGOs in Australia, where public and community housing accounts for little more than 4 per cent of all stock - only a quarter of the equivalent English figure.

Ms Phillips said part of the problem went back to 2014 when Tony Abbott's government axed the National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS).

"That scheme was investing in affordable housing projects and I remember at the time 120 properties or so were being delivered and that all just stalled."

"We're feeling that cumulative effect now," she said.

NRAS applied 10-year agreements to newly built properties where the landlord agreed to keep them below 80 per cent of market rent. The 10 year agreements began to expire in December 2018 and the last ones will run out in 2026. In NSW, there are just over 700 NRAS properties in regional areas.

Ms Phillips wants new rounds of NRAS agreements in order to increase the housing stock.

Chief Executive Officer of the NSW Tenants Union Leo Patterson Ross said the private sector either could not or would not address the issues by building homes to be rented at prices people can afford.

"Put simply, governments need to build housing," he said.

"Both federal and state governments have a role to play here. Federal governments provide grants and other financing to the states that build or have built the housing. Ultimately, this is the most effective and most economically sensible approach - not only providing housing, but also jobs, with a big positive impact."

Ms Phillips said some people might say the issue is about getting more workers here.

"But the issue is if there's no housing, how do you get workers here? You've gotta have a roof over your head," she said.