Chantelle*, a recovering ice addict, repeatedly wipes away tears as she reflects on "losing everything".
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"Two-and-half years ago I fell into addiction," she said.
"I lost my home, my kids, my car... I had to lose everything to realise what had happened (to me)."
The mother of three's family also has a history of drug addiction.
Now in recovery and attending support meetings, as of Wednesday she was 77 days clean.
"I had to realise I was doing it for myself, not just my kids," she said of quitting.
Read more: Homelessness service users mainly women
"I don't think many people understand how long it takes to get back to sanity.
"You can get off the drugs and it's out of your system, but it's not out of your head. It takes ages."
After couch-surfing for nearly two months and sleeping in her car, the 27-year-old recently linked up with the Wollongong Homeless Hub.
She spent a couple of weeks in the Hub's crisis housing, before moving into their transitional housing.
Chantelle, who is on the Newstart Allowance, can stay at her current accommodation for up to 12 months.
She'll undertake a drug and alcohol program, and reunification work regarding families and parenting skills.
"The support here is really good... If you ask, they help you as much as they can," she said.
While Chantelle has been able to get assistance via the Hub, new figures indicate many are unable to access the help they need.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics say 254 Australians will be turned away from homelessness services every day during the Christmas season.
Among other findings was that 12,000 clients were provided with short-term or crisis accommodation in 2018/19, but 14,000 were not able to access this due to services being full.
Mandy Booker, manager of Wollongong Emergency Family Housing and the Wollongong Homeless Hub said the figures were troubling.
"This is a national crisis, and we need an all of government approach to address this problem," she said.
"Locally, we are really hurting. This January, we'll be looking at having to reduce services because we just do not have the funds to continue with the demand.
"We'll be looking at some of our outreach services, and some of our early intervention services will have to be put on hold until we can make sure that we can actually stay financially viable to service the demand that's coming through in the drop-in space."
She said they needed an increase in funding, via governments or donations, to keep offering services at their current level.
Ms Booker said another issue in the Illawarra was people ending up homeless in the short-term, when they were forced to vacate from long-term vacancies to accommodate short-term rental tenants.
"We have this short-term homelessness crisis of people coming at the end of November, and not being able to get secure accommodation until February," she said.
Meanwhile, the Homeless Hub is also hosting a Christmas lunch for its clients on December 23.
They are seeking volunteers to either help on the day, or with preparations leading up to the event.
If you can help, email mandy@wefh.org.au.
*Name changed by request