Port Stephens MP and Minister for Disability Inclusion Kate Washington said there was a clear need the former centre could help meet.

"I have heard heart-breaking stories from people in the Hunter who are couch surfing, sleeping in cars or on the street. I'm pleased to have turned our meeting on site last year into an outcome that could change people's lives," Ms Washington said.

"Making the former Stockton Centre site available as short-term accommodation for people experiencing homelessness and providing them with the support they need to move into a longer-term home is a welcome step for our community."

The flick of a pen, though, is not enough.

It will take eight months and a $2 million program of works to bring the existing infrastructure up to scratch for its new purpose, while the government has confirmed that the derelict nurses' quarters are beyond repair.

It won't happen overnight.

Now, that's partly the problem.

This is perhaps a strong indication that governments need a refined, efficient process for preventing properties simply going into stasis when they could be put to such valuable interim uses.

Put frankly, there are people who could make far better use of government properties than the mothballs ever will.

Minister for Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson said this week the government will investigate upgrades for shelter.

That seems prudent when more than 55,000 people in this state remain on the NSW social housing waitlist.

Of those, roughly 2000 are in Newcastle and Port Stephens.

After the works are complete, the Stockton Centre is expected to provide temporary accommodation for up to 25.

Given the Stockton Centre's closure had been mooted as early as 1993, it is perhaps curious that such a prominent site relatively accessible to Newcastle's harbour and inner city has sat dormant so long.

Formally closed in 2020, the site's demise was not a surprise.

To their credit, ministers and MPs including Ms Washington have been lobbying for the site's better use since their days in opposition.

The fact they have delivered is laudable, but the question of whether it could have happened sooner if a non-partisan process existed.

Newcastle's local woman of the year Sister Carmel Hanson has a simple hope: "I would like to see a time where every homeless person has a roof over their heads," she said.

The Stockton Centre plan is a worthy one, and will help a problem with a high human cost that shows no signs of abating.

But the level of demand, as well as the long lead time to reach this point, pose serious questions about the broader-scale mechanisms to confront a housing crisis of this magnitude years in the making.

Hopefully answers are in the works for those already in desperate circumstances who are hoping for a social safety net that's not already overloaded.