These days an iceberg lettuce will set you back more than $5, it's hard to find fuel under $1.99 per litre and house prices are hundreds of thousands of dollars above what they were a few years ago.

Manager at Maitland Neighbourhood Centre Sarah Adams said the high cost of living is putting strong demand on their services, with more and more community members needing help getting groceries or paying a bill.

She said the biggest issue people are struggling with right now is housing.

In the news:

"We've seen rent increases from probably around $25 to $100 a fortnight, and that's affecting people in different ways," she said.

"The sudden increase in cost of living is definitely significant, with the price of even your basics, it's not like your chips and chocolate, it's your milk and bread, and pasta and meat."

The neighbourhood centre helps the community by providing food assistance through OzHarvest, and assisting with overdue electricity bills for people who are at risk of disconnection.

They also provide an information referral service, pointing people in the right direction for other available assistance.

Ms Adams said they are definitely seeing more people at the moment that they have never seen before, partly because of the drop in temperature and partly because of losses of income, whether because of COVID or other reasons.

"I know that housing is a big issue for basically every service around including the housing providers," she said.

"We've had people that have basically had to choose to be homeless, just because of the increasing costs.

"We were talking to a mum who has a little electric heater but she doesn't want to use it because she knows that electricity is going to go up in price.

"It's just heartbreaking."

Ms Adams said in Maitland there are a lot of people staying in their cars, some people are couch-surfing, some can't afford petrol and some don't have many options at all.

"It's just a no win situation," she said.

Member for Maitland Jenny Aitchison said the current housing situation is a real problem.

"We've been trying to get the government to address this in Maitland and we'll keep trying, but we need to have more long-term housing, we need more affordable housing and we may need some crisis housing," she said.

"It's just not good enough that there are people who won't have places to go tonight because the government isn't providing it."

Ms Aitchison has been putting in Questions on Notice to try and get answers about social housing in the Maitland area, and is hoping to soon have a meeting with the minister about the issue.

There is a $6.14 million social housing development due to be completed soon in Fieldsend Street, East Maitland.

The development will have 18 dwellings; seven two-bedroom units and 11 one-bedroom units.

Another project on Gostwych Avenue, Woodberry will see three new dwellings created.

Ms Aitchison said part of the issue is developments take a long time to become operational, and many families are left out in the cold due to their size.

"Once you put a couple of kids in there, and a dog or a cat, you know things people just have, it makes it really hard for them to move," she said.

Ms Adams said the community can help their service with a tax deductible donation to the neighbourhood centre; contact them on 02 4932 0950.

Do you know you can subscribe to get full access to all Maitland Mercury stories? Subscribing supports us in our local news coverage. To subscribe, click here.