It comes ahead of an expected rise in the price of electricity and gas from July 1. 

Households across NSW may be slugged with bills of up to 20 per cent more than they pay now. 

With personal debt in Australia among the highest in the world, Centacare chief executive Paul Jensen said more residents were turning to Saint Vincent de Paul and the Salvation Army to survive. 

“More and more middle-class Australians are doing it tough,” Mr Jensen said. 

“They’re living paycheck to paycheck; one crisis away from homelessness.”

Mr Jensen said the growing social and economic inequality gap was backed by empirical evidence and reputable data. 

OXFAM Australia, this year, revealed the top one per cent of residents owned more wealth than the bottom 70 per cent combined.

To add to this, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development revealed the average resident was spending more than double their earnings in 2015. 

Mr Jensen said without increased investment in renewable energies, government intervention and taxation mitigation, more local families would fall prey to poverty.

He said state and federal government needed to get involved in creating new employment opportunities and access to new markets.

“Charities and hand outs are the point of last hope and last resort for most people,” he said. 

“It’s not their preferred way of life but more and more are fronting up to charities.”

Mr Jensen encouraged Wagga residents to raise money and donate to the local charities that kept hundreds fed and clothed across the region.