World Homeless Day, taking place on October 10, seeks to draw attention to homeless people's needs locally and provide opportunities for the community to get involved in responding to homelessness.

In accordance with World Homeless Day, Vinnies NSW is calling for an urgent increase in social housing in areas such as the Illawarra.

More than 100,000 people are currently on the NSW social housing waitlist, with many facing homelessness in the meantime.

Vinnies say some people have been on the list for more than 10 years.

The Family and Community Services website outlines estimated social housing waitlist times throughout the state.

For example, in Wollongong, the expected waiting time for a studio/one-bedroom property is two to five years.

The expected wait time for a two-bedroom property is ten-plus years; and for a three-bedroom property, the wait is five to ten years.

"It's self-evident that more housing will help address the chronic homelessness problem, but this isn't translating into enough concrete action on the ground," Jack de Groot, CEO of the St Vincent de Paul Society NSW said.

"Vinnies has launched Build Homes, Build Hope, a new campaign calling on the NSW government to build an extra 5000 social housing properties per year for the next decade."

Vinnies is calling on Illawarra residents to sign its petition for more social housing, located at vinnies.org.au/socialhousing.

Meanwhile, Mandy Booker, manager of Wollongong Emergency Family Housing and the Wollongong Homeless Hub said World Homeless Day is a collective worldwide action day to raise awareness.

"Wollongong Homeless Hub will be holding a barbecue lunch with clients of our service and other community groups," she told the Mercury.

"It is a day that local organisations work towards advocating and supporting our homeless community members."

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