Mr Dyson says the south-west faces a dual problem - of worker shortages and housing shortages - and government policies have failed to address the issue, including the latest federal budget.

He said the issue had developed into a "crisis" putting pressure on families and stifling business with the inability to house local workers.

"People have been crying out for workers but they've got a dual issue of not being able to get workers, but if they can, there's nowhere for the workers to live," Mr Dyson said.

"The amount of stories I've heard - whether it's a GP sleeping in a caravan park, or essential workers being forced to live a long way away. And then there's either poor public transport to get to work or it's high petrol prices.

"There's a whole lot of issues that all formulate into one and you're not going to be able to address them swiftly without a national housing plan.

"The two-party politics system means we're constantly putting in policies to look appealing in the moment - whether it's a one-off tax payment or a six month petrol excise for the cost of living, it's not going to address the long-term issues that are fuelling this housing crisis."

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He has made housing a priority of his campaign, and developed a housing policy which uses public and private initiatives to provide regional housing where it is needed most.

"The economic cost of the current housing shortage is incredible," he said.

"Greater federal investment in the sector - through initiatives such as build-to-rent schemes, pioneer infrastructure, and avoiding policies that artificially inflate prices - can provide the urgent boost required to house locals, provide security, and grow the Wannon economy.

"Developers overlook these crucial, smaller hubs when it comes to building new stock because the profits lie in getting close to the city or close to the major centres. So having investment in things like pioneer infrastructure, particularly in regional Australia, would make it a more viable option."

More than one third of all residents in the seat of Wannon are experiencing financial stress, new data reveals, with the rising cost of food and fuel tipped to cause more pain.

Figures from housing campaign Everybody's Home revealed 42.9 per cent of renters and 34.3 per cent of mortgagees in the region were under stress.

READ MORE: 'It's worrying': One third of Wannon residents in financial stress

Within five years the number of rental listings has almost halved in Warrnambool, from 217 to 114, CoreLogic data shows.

The number of new sale listings also dropped significantly in that time, from 125 to 92. Total sale listings fell from 618 to 288.

According to REIV data, Warrnambool house prices have continued to rise, from an average $330,000 in 2018 to $573,000 in 2021.

The cost of rent in Warrnambool has increased too, from an average $330 a week to $450 a week in the same period.

The rental vacancy rate is currently sitting at 0.44 per cent in Warrnambool.

Mr Dyson said the federal budget failed to address the issue.

He said schemes like the The Regional Home Guarantee (RHG), which will allow eligible applicants to build or buy newly-built homes in regional Australia with only a five per cent deposit, left out many people experiencing financial stress.

READ MORE: Budget housing policy to add thousands more in interest payments

"There are quite a lot of people for whom mortgage repayments are becoming untenable and there's a large section where that is completely out of touch and by having financial incentives for people to buy a house, it only exacerbates the issue of house prices going up and becoming even more unaffordable for people," he said.

"It's been unfortunately happening for years and that's why we're getting to the crisis scenario that we have."

Wannon MP Dan Tehan was contacted by The Standard for comment.

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