After years of supporting others to find secure accommodation, Cherie Bromley never imagined she would find herself on the receiving end of the housing crisis on the far north coast of New South Wales.

"I didn't even approach the real estates because I just knew there was nothing out there," she said.

For the past decade, Ms Bromley has been working for the Byron Community Centre, which provides a number of services, including support for the town's homeless population.

The Byron Bay resident of 29 years said she began the search for a home when the lease on her share house ended late last year, thrusting her into a rental market with a vacancy rate close to zero.

"This is the worst it's ever been," she said.

Ms Bromley said she was extremely fortunate to have a good network of friends who were able to find her and her 14-year-old daughter temporary accommodation.

"I'm sleeping in the kitchen area [and] I gave my daughter the bedroom, but I have to pass through her bedroom to go to the bathroom," she said.

"It's not sustainable long-term."

'Catastrophic proportions'

The term "traumatic experience" is not one Ballina solicitor Sadie Hunt thought she would ever use to describe trying to secure a rental property in regional NSW.

After all, she works in conveyancing, has a regular and respectable income, and has contacts in the local real estate industry — how hard could it be?

"I thought I had a pretty good chance of getting a rental property, but I was rejected from all the properties I applied for," Ms Hunt said.

Ms Hunt said she sold her Lennox Head property in November 2020 and gave herself a five-week settlement period to find a new place.

But she said even the first hurdle into the rental market — property viewings — proved challenging.

"You get sent an email and if you don't respond to that email within two minutes those little 4-minute appointment slots are all filled," Ms Hunt said.

"You turn up and there's 30 to 50 people there … that you're essentially competing with to get a home for you and your family to live in."

Ms Hunt said she was able to find a private rental at the eleventh hour but was knocked back for the three rentals she applied for through real estate agents.

She said that the real estate agents later informed her that, in at least two of the homes she missed out on, other prospective tenants had offered higher rental payments to secure the properties.

"There needs to be more affordable housing locally.

"This isn't just a crisis; this is a crisis of catastrophic proportions."

'Just can't afford it'

Gregg Miller has been a volunteer rural firefighter in Suffolk Park in Byron Bay since 2004.

In 2010, he was awarded the Byron Shire Council Volunteer of the Year.

But the 60-year-old's dedication to his community was not enough to stop the long-time local being priced out of the rental market by skyrocketing prices.

"The situation is that people just can't afford it anymore," Mr Miller said.

He said his lease ended in 2018 and he would have had to find an extra $300 a week to remain in the community.

Mr Miller said he had been paying $420 a week for an entire house and now garage spaces alone were being advertised for $320 a week.

'Uncharted territory'

The general manager of the Byron Community Centre, Louise O'Connell, said the housing situation on the Northern Rivers was "dire".

"We have people turning up here who are in desperate need and we have nowhere to send them," she said.

"I really think it's uncharted territory."

Figures from the Real Estate Institute of NSW show rental vacancies across the Northern Rivers have gone from 1.7 per cent in February 2020, to 1.4 per cent in January, reaching a low of just 0.6 per cent in November last year.

Institute chief executive Tim McKibbin attributes the growing demand for rental accommodation, in part, to an increase in city dwellers relocating to regional areas during the pandemic — and in turn, pushing locals out of the market.

"We've all learned rather abruptly that we can work from home," he said.