In 2010, housing advocate Penny Leemhuis was told it would be at least 14 years before the ACT government could find a public housing property for her.

Renting rooms here and there from acquaintances in the capital, she eventually took her name off the ACT list and put it down for a NSW property.

Within 18 months, she had moved into her new unit in Queanbeyan.

"It's not perfect, but it's [disability] accessible," Ms Leemhuis said.

"I really didn't have a choice, I'd still be waiting...There are so many older women here in the same situation as I was, living precariously week to week."

With ACT apartment rent prices now the second highest in the country, local services and Queanbeyan realtors report more Canberrans are chasing cheaper rentals over the border.

Chris Farmer of Ray White Queanbeyan has been a realtor in the NSW town for 13 years, but said he had seen a "massive influx" of Canberrans at inspections in the past three years.

"The majority of our applications would be from Canberra, there's always been a lot but now more young people and even families are moving over because it's affordable but it's still central," Mr Farmer said.

Domain property analyst Dr Nicola Powell said, while areas like Belconnen were among Canberra's cheapest places to rent, prices were still about $100 more than in Queanbeyan, where median rent for a house or apartment is $360.

"Some of it might be down to personal choice, but really it's no wonder people are moving across to Queanbeyan," Dr Powell said.

"Canberra is a very competitive market and it's becoming even tighter."

ACT Shelter chief executive officer Travis Gilbert said Canberra's climbing rent prices were leaving more people in housing stress, from working families to university students and graduates entering the public service.

"It's not just people you see out on the street, it's people with jobs and single parents trying to find somewhere with enough rooms for their kids," Mr Gilbert said.

"It's the families in cars in a city where overnight [temperatures] drop to minus 8 or the grandma forced into a hostel...and being chased by debt collectors or with just $88 left over from her pension after paying rent.

"The government spends millions enticing people to live in Canberra...but even I as a person with a full-time job, found it really hard to find a good, affordable rental when I moved here."

After a relationship breakdown, Ms Leemhuis said her savings (and minimal super) were completely consumed by rent in just three or four years.

The ACT Council of Social Services has called for an urgent government intervention in Canberra's housing "market failure", in light of an apparent rise in rough sleeping around the capital.

Mr Gilbert said Canberrans moving to NSW could also be costing the government millions in lost revenue, and more up-to-date economic modelling was needed.

Modelling done by ACT Shelter in 2015 but never publicly released estimated between $52 and $62 million was being lost over the border as people moved to Queanbeyan, he said.

"There is obviously a bit of flow back and forth there but it looked like the ACT was coming off worse," Mr Gilbert said.

Mr Farmer said some of the "stigma" once associated with Queanbeyan among Canberrans was starting to disappear as the town grew.

For Ms Leemhuis, who also runs an advocacy group for older women lost in housing called OWLS, living in Queanbeyan has brought security, but also headaches of its own. After a fall in 1994 on Mount Ainslie left her "permanently incapacitated", a car crash last November wrote off her modified car.

Her current NDIS plan does not give her enough funds to modify another, and her extensive spinal injuries rule out catching buses.

Now effectively housebound, Ms Leemhuis is desperately trying to raise almost $7000 to modify her new car so she can continue her housing advocacy work in Canberra.

"Without wheels, my work to try and fix this comes to a stop, it's a lot of meetings and sit-downs, it's a lot of leg work, if you'll pardon the expression.

"I'm lucky the shops are so close because I can't afford taxis...I'm a bit cut off out here."

A spokesman for ACT housing minister Yvette Berry said the government was currently funding a study of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Canberra to help better understand their support and housing needs.

"In October 2017, we delivered ACT's first Housing and Homelessness Summit, the outcomes of which are being considered for inclusion in a new ACT Housing Strategy," the spokesman said.

Domain is owned by Fairfax Media.