Demand for homelessness services in the Hunter has soared by 59 per cent in eight years, renewing calls for more social housing and state funding to tackle the crisis.
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Homelessness NSW released the data, which showed the number of people seeking specialist homelessness services.
The data showed 5676 people across the Hunter used these services last financial year.
Newcastle recorded the highest rise in the region, with those affected increasing from 1015 in 2014/15 to 1819 in 2022/23 - a 79 per cent hike.
Lake Macquarie recorded a 71 per cent rise, with the number of affected people increasing from 772 to 1322 over that eight-year period.
Port Stephens recorded a 60 per cent rise, with the number of affected people increasing from 652 to 1040 over that period.
Homelessness NSW CEO Dom Rowe said "frontline services in the Hunter Region are at breaking point, following a surge in demand for help over the past decade".
"Wages and government support payments have not kept up with housing costs," Ms Rowe said.
"Vanishing supply and plummeting affordability has left an increasing number of people just one rent rise or eviction notice away from homelessness."
There was a ray of light for the Hunter, as the region showed a 4 per cent drop in people accessing homelessness services in the past financial year.
The number of people affected in the region fell from 5888 in 2021/22 to 5676 in 2022/23.
In Newcastle, though, the figure fell only 2 per cent over this period.
Ms Rowe said having a job or living in a regional or rural area were "no longer enough to protect people against homelessness".
"The cost of living crisis squeezes people with no more room to move," she said.
"It means overstretched frontline services across the state are forced to make heartbreaking choices about who to help with limited resources."
She said one in every two people were turned away.
"People are spending their days finding a new couch to sleep on or staying in their vehicle, while women and children are trapped in violent homes."
She called on the NSW government to "increase funding for frontline services by 20 per cent, while more social housing is built."
The agency compiled the data from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare research into specialist homelessness services, which will be officially released on Tuesday.
The data showed rises in 58 of NSW's 128 local government areas last financial year.
Data released in December showed more than 68,000 people used specialist homelessness services in NSW last financial year. This equated to one in 119 people across the state.
The top three reasons for seeking this help were people experiencing a housing crisis, financial difficulties and family and domestic violence.
The agency also examined the latest data from the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, saying it showed "lengthening waiting times for social housing across most parts of the state".
The longest median wait times for social housing for "general applicants" were in Northern NSW [5.3 years], Illawarra [3.5 years], Sydney [2.8 years], Nepean/Blue Mountains [2.7 years] and the Hunter [2.5 years].
Median wait times for social housing for "priority applicants" include Southern NSW [7.1 months], Northern NSW [7 months], Mid North Coast [5.7 months], Central Coast [4.6 months], Illawarra [4.4 months], Sydney [4.4 months] and the Hunter [4.1 months].
Ms Rowe said only one in 20 homes were social housing.
"We need this to be at least one in 10 by 2050 to slash the 57,000-strong, decade-long waitlist and end NSW's homelessness crisis," she said.
