Wilks Park campsite, which advertises a maximum stay of 72 hours, has become home for some of the city's most vulnerable, who risk their health and safety on a daily basis.

Among them are gem miners Aaron and Skye Buschmann, who moved to the Riverina at the beginning of the year when rent increases rose above what they could afford while working in South Australia.

Having visited Wagga previously, Mr Buschmann returned to the city with optimism, but the 35-year-old did not imagine the cost of living would leave him homelessness.

The married couple have been living at Wilks Park for two months now and said their living conditions have taken an undeniable toll on their physical and mental health.

Additionally, the heavy rain that fell across the region on Monday and Tuesday caused their tent to flood with muddy water which left their bedding, clothes and possessions sodden.

"I felt like I was gonna die yesterday it was that cold," Mr Buschmann said on Wednesday.

"I've got asthma and epilepsy ... the cold nights just hit me and I can't breathe."

Mrs Buschmann added: "the cold just goes straight through your body."

The 27-year-old, who has autism and ADHD, said she never imagined she would find herself in her current position and that her mental health has reached an all-time low.

"Somedays you just want to sleep forever because it's just the same routine every day," she said.

Safety also remains a constant concern for the couple with crimes, including theft, becoming commonplace at the campsite.

"It gets quite dangerous because you've got random people walking through trying to slip into tents while you're sleeping, and I've got to worry about my wife at the same time," Mr Buschmann said.

Mrs Buschmann added: "I don't feel safe and don't feel like I can rest my head easily ... People can get killed out here."

Matt Costello, 32, has been living at Wilks Park for almost eight months and was left without his most valuable items when his tent was ransacked.

"I'd only just got back on the feet and started getting a collection of things again because I've been kicked out of a couple of spots and lost everything three or four times," he said.

"I'd left the door open here one day, and someone had parked in front of it and got a big power pack, my solar panels and other different things."

Mr Costello found himself on the streets following the breakdown of his marriage and decided against boarding temporarily at a refuge due to the prevalence of drug use. Without a fixed address, he is unable to claim welfare benefits and is therefore locked out of applying for social housing, which he was told has a five-year waiting list anyway.

"It's a catch-22 because I can't get housing because I'm not getting Centrelink," he said.

However, Mr Costello considers himself to be in a more fortunate position than many of the others staying at the campsite, some of who have been living at Wilks Park for years. He said that the site's population has grown exponentially since he first set up camp and said that does not even account for those sleeping in Wagga's CBD or elsewhere.

"We get people sleeping in swags here in the bush now and again. One of them has a pretty serious disease, Henderson-Jones syndrome, and he's not well or getting any assistance," he said.

"I saw another bloke come up here who had no socks and when he took his shoes off he had massive blisters on his heels. We bought him socks and things but couldn't find him after that."

Mr Costello often provides shelter in his tent to those in need and went as far as to give the Buschmanns a foam mattress after seeing their tent flood.

He also shares space with 50-year-old shearer Desmond Brennan who set up camp next door a few weeks ago.

"With shearing, there's just not a lot of work going at this time of year," he said

"I'm just waiting on some ID so I can access some money and my superannuation, and then I'll be on my way."

It is firewood that Mr Costello said the community at Wilks Park desperately needs, with the brunt of winter life-threatening on its own.

"All the businesses that throw pallets out, if they do a drop-off somewhere, put a shelter up and put them under that ... it's a good way to help," he said.

"Without heating, fire is the next best thing."

In addition to supplying food, clothing, and emergency support, community service providers such as Red Cross, Salvation Army and Saint Vincent de Paul have been actively lobbying for government-led action to resolve this ongoing crisis in Wagga.

Former Wagga citizen of the year and Carevan founder Lynne Graham is one of the twenty-plus participants of an ongoing consultation panel addressing the issue.

"People are struggling, some of them are in absolute dire straits," she said.

"But they're a resilient group, and we have to give them the dignity and understand that they are worthy people, they're just going through tough times."

A panel session was held on Thursday night, attended by the aforementioned service providers plus Sisters Housing, Argyle Housing, Wagga mayor Dallas Tout, Wagga MP Joe McGirr and others.

"There were a lot of suggestions of 'we could do this', or we 'we could do that', government money, long-term housing caravan parks," she said.

"One person just said, 'look, can we come up with a solution, not just the discussion', which I thought was pertinent."

Councillor Tout responded to the calls for action, stating "we have to resolve this".

"It's a matter of advocating to the state government, particularly about housing, whether it's public housing, social and community housing or housing development across the city," he said.

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