The motion during the November 24 meeting, moved by councillor Margaret O'Connor, was to advise and seek assistance on the 'critical shortage of housing' in the Armidale and Guyra areas.

The motion was carried unanimously, but Cr Jonathan Galletly dubbed it 'electioneering'.

"I think this has been a problem for quite a while and I take a little bit of offense at the electioneering at this time of the year to bring it up," Cr Galletly said.

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Cr Debra O'Brien, speaking for the motion, refuted Cr Galletly's claim, saying it was imperative that council alerted the State Government to their needs.

"It's an ongoing and building crisis. I think it's very important that we do give the feedback so that policy can be created at a state level as well as a local level," she said.

"We had a meeting with (then Deputy Premier John) Barilaro a few months ago about Local Government issues and almost every area said the rising housing crisis was an issue everywhere and he (Barilaro) said it was important that Local Governments give their feedback about what the local area is facing."

Cr O'Connor likened the mounting housing concern as something of a "dislocation in terms of the housing and rental market".

The motion had originally only indicated a housing concern in the Guyra area, but an amendment was seconded to include Armidale itself with councillor Peter Bailey saying it would be challenging to illustrate how one area could be worse off than the other in terms of housing availability.

Councillor Dorothy Robinson who seconded the original motion said council needed support from higher levels of government to tackle this issue.

"We've got a responsibility to our community and this is a problem that I'm sure we all agree needs some help and support, so lets ask for it," she said.

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