In Tumbarumba, a real estate agent was forced to put a call out on Facebook after failing to locate any suitable accommodation for a paramedic headed to the small town.

PRD property manager Marney Pertzel said at the time she shared the post, there was just one property listed for rent in the town, and it was 15 kilometres from the centre.

"We've been on the lookout for a month and haven't been able to find anything," Ms Pertzel said.

On Wednesday the agency finally managed to secure a home for worker, but it's not the first time the housing shortage has hit vital workers.

"This year we had a vet nurse move to town and we couldn't find them anything," Ms Pertzel said. "In the end we had to find a shed to store their stuff until they found a granny flat on the outskirts of town."

Earlier in the year, a refurbishment of housing for teachers saw the educators forced to stay in motel accommodation because there were no rentals available to meet the short-term demand.

Snow Valley Councillor Julia Ham said she wasn't surprised to hear about the social media campaign, saying over the past 12 months a combination of pressures have pushed the Tumbarumba market to extremes.

"Properties go in a matter of hours," she said. "Prior to COVID we were always aware there could be an accommodation shortage with the Snowy Hydro project, but with COVID and people moving out of the cities to regional areas, it put more pressure on us than we expected."

With the increase in population, Cr Ham points out workers like vets, paramedics and teachers are more important than ever, while Ms Pertzel fears without some accommodation solutions the town is at risk.

"Simply, put, we won't have the services here if we can't have accommodation," she said. "In this case we could have been down an ambulance officer."

Cr Ham was hopeful the recent approval of additional housing blocks at the Snowy View Estate would help alleviate the issue in the future.

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