Canberra holiday home owners urged to rent out their South Coast properties in letter from Eurobodalla Shire Council mayor Mathew Hatcher

More than 3500 Canberrans are due to receive a letter from the council this week asking them to consider renting their secondary properties or holiday homes for the next one to two years.

It comes as the region, which includes popular NSW holiday spots Batemans Bay, Moruya and Narooma, faces a housing crisis.

Ms Salmon, who has owned a house in Batemans Bay for about 20 years, was yet to receive the letter on Thursday but said she was already "half thinking about it".

"I don't have any particular issue with renting it out if people need it, that's not a problem for me, but it just means that you don't have access to your house. I guess that's the main reason I wouldn't do it, if I didn't," she said.

In the letter being sent to around 8500 non-resident ratepayers across Australia this week, Eurobodalla mayor Mathew Hatcher has urged owners to consider renting out their properties "while the government's longer-term solutions have time to work".

South Coast publications in the ACM network, the owner of this masthead, reported in March there were around 700 Eurobodalla Shire residents without stable accommodation.

More than 50 people, including working families, are currently living at North Head Moruya campground, unable to secure affordable rental accommodation, the council said.

Ms Salmon was one of many ratepayers who listed their South Coast properties for rent following the 2019-20 bushfire season, when more than 500 homes were lost.

"I went down there in the aftermath of the bushfires I guess partly to check the house out, make sure it was okay, but also to help out one of the charities," she said.

At the time, local government officials made a similar plea for more rental stock to help those who had been displaced.

"I thought, well, no reason why not," Ms Salmon said.

"I don't actually use the house that much so I thought I'd make it available, which I did."

She said a young family rented the property for about 15 months.

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Luke Allan, director of Elders Real Estate Batemans Bay, said many landlords had taken their properties off the permanent rental market in the last 18 months.

"People can basically work from home, still cover some of the outgoings for the property but use it themselves as well," he said.

"Now that [international] borders have opened up what we're finding, and I think what it's going to be like this coming summer, is that there's going to be a lot of holiday rentals out there that are just sitting vacant."

Mr Allan expected some of those properties to go back into the rental pool following the mayor's plea but said they may not be suitable for all families.

"There's a need for lower cost, permanent rentals in the area," he said.

"Down here our rents sort of top out at $600 to $700 a week and most of those holiday properties will sit thereabouts because of location, proximity to the beach, that sort of thing."

In a statement, Mr Hatcher noted the NSW Government's budget commitment of almost $500 million for new housing but said the South Coast "can't wait years for homes to be built".

"We need to address the lack of rental properties in our community right now," he said.

"If there are more properties for rent we can support workers and families in the area, meaning people are less likely to become homeless."

He said longer-term solutions, such as tiny homes or a homeless shelter, were being explored.

"Residents understand the housing crisis is not something their local council can fix, but we can certainly do our best to support each other while the state and federal [governments] do what needs doing, and that is build more social and affordable housing," Mr Hatcher said.

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