Charities say people in need of temporary or emergency accommodation are being priced out of homes during major festivals, creating a spike in rough sleepers.
Tamworth, in north-west NSW, has more than 50 hotels within 10 kilometres of its CBD, but most were booked out months in advance of this week's Country Music Festival.
While the festival and the tens of thousands of tourists it attracts are a saviour for local businesses, homelessness organisations have warned it was their busiest time of year.
Tamworth Family Support Service's (TFSS) manager Lynda Townsend said temporary accommodation was not only hard to find, but unaffordable.
"We see the price of motels go up, almost double for a room, about two weeks out [from the festival]," Ms Townsend said.
"It's not necessarily that they're kicked out.
"And we are aware it happens with every major event in Australia, but Tamworth is not forgotten."
Homelessness increasing
TFSS's clients go through episodes of homelessness for weeks or months on average, with the majority relating to domestic violence.
The service's client numbers have increased in recent years due to the housing crisis in regional New South Wales.
The last street count done by TFSS in February found 20 rough sleepers in the Tamworth district.
The number of people couch-surfing and domestic violence victims, or those known as the hidden homeless, were believed to be much higher.
"During the festival, if you're a woman with children, there is some emergency accommodation which fills up fast," Ms Townsend said.
Due to the COVID-19 Omicron outbreak, the Tamworth Country Music Festival's schedule was shifted from its regular January timeslot to an Easter Monday start date.
It meant that rather than being a summer festival where temperatures could rise above 30 degrees Celsius, it has been held on a week when minimum temperatures dropped to as low as 5C.
Not just tourism events
Homelessness NSW's Digby Hughes said the issue of temporary accommodation in major events had been raised for several years but has not been followed by change.
"Government is siloed and fractured," the interim chief executive officer said.
"The people who look after the events are not a part of homelessness accommodation [and] the government department which is, is not involved with events.
Mr Hughes said the problem was not specific to Tamworth or tourism events.
"We see this happen up and down the coast, the Elvis Festival in Parkes, to roadworks and the cherry picking season — they all require accommodation," he said.
Tourism Accommodation Australia was contacted for comment.
Both Homelessness NSW and TFSS believe a permanent solution would be more funding for social housing.
"People who are being squeezed in the bottom end of the market need to find affordable accommodation," Mr Hughes said.
"In the short term, the services need to have more funding so they can help people [who are] rough sleeping afford motel rooms during the price hike."
