A family with seven children, a couple with a newborn baby, and two elderly people are among those who could be left homeless from next Tuesday when the Bounty Motel in Bomaderry on the south coast of NSW closes its doors.

There are 28 people in total who have been staying at the motel, which has been used to house homeless people or those in need of short-term accommodation for the past five years.

It is and older building set back a couple of hundred metres from the Princes Highway, and, as you turn into the driveway, you would hardly think anything was amiss.

Then you notice the overflowing skip bin, full of dated furniture, broken children's toys, and old clothes scattered around the outside.

There are children playing in the empty carpark as their parents watch on from old plastic tables and chairs outside their motel rooms.

It is after midday, but residents are wandering around in their dressing gowns, some older and obviously sick, others just have nowhere to be.

The rooms are standard. Most consist of a bed, a dresser, and a bathroom. A couple have TVs.

As I sat in the motel room, interviewing residents, someone knocked on the door and asked who was in there, the tenants said no-one, but the manager forced her way in anyway.

A man who had accompanied me to the motel to introduce me to his friends who were staying there, was told to get off the premises and I hid behind the door trying not to make any noise.

Deciding it was not worth risking my own safety, I went to leave but found my car had been blocked in by a wardrobe.

I moved it while someone, a manager, shouted at me, telling me if I didn't leave the police would be called.

Nowra police say they are called there frequently for violence-related matters, although lately they have not been called as often.

It might not be the most inviting place to visit; but to the people staying there, it is home.

Bins overflow with broken toys, old furniture and ruined clothes as people begin the process of moving out of the Bounty Motel. ( Jessica Clifford )

A business in trouble

The Bounty is a low-budget motel, rated one and a half stars.

It began operating as a short-term accommodation centre in 2012, with tenants flowing in from various local homelessness services and the NSW Department of Housing.

For the past eight months, the Department of Housing have not been using the motel for clients.

"No current residents of the Motor Inn have been placed there by FACS," said a Family and Community Service spokesperson.

"Staff are visiting the Motor Inn before it closes to ensure any eligible residents who need housing are assisted," they said.

In July, the NSW Government announced it would be moving away from using low-cost motels for temporary housing and, instead, would redirect $10 million into a more supported model of housing, which gives people access to other services to help get them back on track.

Without the NSW Government's support, the Bounty Motel has been struggling to make ends meet, with a number of tenants not able to cover their rent.

The owners recently decided they had no option but to sell up.

One of the managers took to social media to express her disappointment in the community for their lack of support, saying no-one had tried to help them keep a roof over these people's heads.

Part owner George Andrews said he was doing his best to find accommodation through the Department of Housing for anyone staying at the motel who was eligible.

"We've had welfare officers here visiting residents, Mr Andrews said.

"We're doing everything we can for them, but we had no choice but to sell."

Nowhere to go

Residents were notified in a letter last week, giving them a week's notice to vacate.

One resident, known as Dee, has been there for seven weeks, and she has no idea where she is going to go when the Bounty closes.

She recently had surgery and is supposed to rest for the next six weeks, however is now worried about having to find a new home.

Despite not wanting to leave, she said her time at the motel had not been happy.

As she was speaking with the ABC, she broke down in tears.

"People have tried to drag me out of this room by my hair when they've been drunk," Dee said.

"When the managers came around to give me the letter telling me I had to leave, I'd just got back from surgery and I couldn't come to the door.

"I told them to wait but they came in anyway and told me I was lazy."

Closure a symptom of a bigger issue

Nikky Sloan from the Illawarra Forum, a service that directs people to homeless services around the Illawarra and South Coast, said the closure of the Bounty was symptomatic of a bigger problem.

"Their options are really limited because we just have so little affordable housing available," she said.

"I'm sure that this will impact greatly on the specialist homelessness services who are doing such a great job but are really operating at full capacity."

Despite the offer of other services, tenants are still concerned, not so much about next week, but about what they will do in the long term.

"I've got four illnesses that are never going away, and I've been in and out of hospital" said resident Maxine.

"No-one seems to care about that.

"To everyone else, it's all about money, but to us it's just about finding a roof to put over our head."