"That just shows how much it's needed here," Mr Rowe said.

The sleep bus will help provide overnight shelter to people without housing in the Queanbeyan area, as support services report the number of people without shelter jumping by more than 45 per cent.

Mr Rowe, who established Sleepbus in 2016, said sleep buses normally went to big cities with a larger number of homeless people.

"A sleep bus has come to Queanbeyan because of the community. They wanted it and they made it happen," he said this week.

Molonglo Support Services director Janette Dean said the bus came at an important time for what was a troubling problem for the community.

"Two years ago we supported 257 people and we are only one of the services helping Queanbeyan's homeless," Mrs Dean said.

"At the end of last year, it was up to 377. That's a lot of new people without shelter."

Early in 2019, Molonglo joined forces with other local organisations to create the Queanbeyan Housing Action Committee.

With winter around the corner, the committee said it chose the sleep bus initiative because it provided an immediate solution for those sleeping on the streets.

"When people tell me it's a Band-Aid solution, I say, 'Well what about tonight?'" Mr Rowe said.

"The sad fact is that in Queanbeyan there are not enough beds for the homeless so people are turned away, we want those people to come here."

From this weekend, the bus opens its doors at 8pm and close at 8am. Mr Rowe said this was done so that the bus was strictly for sleep and not a permanent solution.

"We expect to get a lot of newly homeless people - young kids or those suffering financial hardship - and they have this urgency for shelter," he said.

"I'd shut the charity down today if I thought there was a real place for them in the community. Obviously, affordable housing is the way to go in the long run but the reality is we just don't have that yet."

Mrs Dale said housing affordability was one of the main reasons people found themselves without shelter.

"Rising house prices are a serious problem - especially in Queanbeyan, where we have a lot of ACT renters in the market and that makes securing housing very competitive," she said.

"Landlords obviously want to pick those applicants with two incomes, usually with no kids or pets and this shrinks the space for Queanbeyan's more vulnerable people to get into a home."

The NSW opposition spokesman for housing and homelessness, Ryan Park, said the sleep bus was a welcome initiative given the lack of affordable housing across NSW.

"There has to be improvements right across the spectrum, with early intervention and wrap-around services key to improving outcomes of those most vulnerable," Mr Park said.

The expected wait time for social housing in Queanbeyan is five to 10 years, the NSW government says.