Employees from Tamworth housing provider Homes North will soon begin the laborious process of counting the town's rough sleepers, part of a statewide count.

The job will done by the end of February.

Housing Director Jeff Mills said the survey will draw a better picture of an often misunderstood issue.

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"It's not something the broader community until recent times has been broadly aware of," he said.

But over 2600 people sleep rough across NSW, according to statistics in the last census. Over 73,000 people need homelessness services in the state.

And with the state government vowing to halve rough sleeping in five years, the census will help the government firm up that number, and target resources where they're needed.

Minister for Families and Communities Gareth Ward said it will be the "most complete and up-to-date picture possible".

"These street counts will help foster local collaboration to end street sleeping and inform local approaches to prevention, housing options and post-crisis support," he said.

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Jeff Mills is our region's Housing Director. He said the recent bushfire crisis may have left more people struggling to put a roof over their head.

"That is hard to say," he said.

"It depends on if someone's house is destroyed by fire where they move to, how they address that homelessness, what supports they can get.

"So again it's not something I can predict.

"The count will show what the current situation is."

Homeless in the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern NSW will be counted in April.