Welfare agency workers are taking to the water to help some of South Australia's most vulnerable people.

With some of the homeless in the state's Riverland setting up camp along the Murray, the support service Life Without Barriers has started boat patrols near the riverbank.

Christy Kitto, from the organisation, said they wanted to find and support people who were sleeping rough.

"We never cease to be surprised by, sadly, what we see and what we help support," she said.

"We don't see them in a shop, doorway or something else, but at the last Census night back in 2011 there was at that point in time roughly 600 people living homeless in the Riverland."

Outreach worker Deb McManus said the team used a boat several times each week to patrol the riverbanks between Renmark and Waikerie.

She pointed out just one of the sites found by the patrol.

"There's two people living here at this campsite, they've been here for probably three or four weeks now," she said.

"They're just utilising our service for the showers and the kitchen use and laundry at the moment, but their main issue is looking for housing."

The welfare group has a kitchen and other facilities at its base at Berri.

Frontline welfare workers are keen to see more emergency housing provided in regional areas but agencies are doubtful it will happen anytime soon.

Lyndon Gray of the Salvation Army said he understood the constant demand for resources.

"Would we like more services? Yes we would, but it's part of that balancing act of what you can do with what you've got," he said.

Ms Kitto agreed, saying her own experience had found Adelaide short of support services for the homeless, leaving little scope for more regional support.

Life Without Barriers officers will boost their river patrols over summer.