Some businesses across Daylesford and Hepburn Shire coming out of COVID-19 lockdowns are being forced to trade for reduced hours due to the lack of available staff.

Many have put their staff shortages down to the difficulty of finding affordable, long-term housing.

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The problem for businesses has been exacerbated by the desire for Victorians to travel locally while international travel is off the menu and interstate travel remains a risk, as Brisbane's recent snap lockdown proved.

Harvest Cafe owner Laura Camm said she had lost staff due to them not being able to find a rental property nearby.

"He was from Ballarat and couldn't find a house in Daylesford and so he moved to Melbourne to find work there," she said.

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"We're in the same boat as everyone else, we were open seven days a week before COVID but because we don't have enough staff, we're shut on Sundays and we won't open on Sundays until we can get enough staff to cover the week and we can spread everyone out."

Businesses believe one of the major contributors to the housing shortage is the amount of properties being used for short-term rental accommodation through services such as AirBnB.

Annallee Gore, a barista at the Harvest Cafe, said she would have to move in with her partner in Woodend once her lease ends due to the lack of affordable rentals available in Daylesford.

"I've been looking for months and there's nothing within the price range and there's minimal share accommodation around," she said.

"I'm fortunate enough to have an amazing place that I work at that I don't want to leave, so I will make the commute because working here is more valuable than the driving time.

"There are people all around that are being forced to leave and find new jobs elsewhere because it's just not worth it for them."

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The 26-year-old said she would have to spend at least $400 a week for a two-bedroom rental property to stay in Daylesford.

"For the youth, we're on minimal wage, we're working our backsides off and the majority of our income is going straight into the pockets of the owners," she said.

"Everyone who lives here is so aware of the issue. I don't understand why it's still an issue because it is so talked about."

Daylesford resident Brad Clune is in a similar situation having been given 90 days' notice to vacate his property.

Mr Clune said he had moved five times over the past three years.

"I run a business in town, I do maintenance and landscaping and I need to have my business in town because I manage properties for people and have to be in town in case of emergency or for a callout," he said.

"It's gotten to the point where if something doesn't come up in the next 90 days, I'll be forced out of town and that will cause issues for my business because I won't be living in Daylesford and will cost me more money because I'll have to travel out here to do what I need to do for my clients.

"It's become unnerving because if this is what it's like now, what will it be like in the future? How many locals will be forced out of town?"

Hotel Frangos has been another business to lose staff, but found a solution after purchasing a property for staff accommodation last year and renting another.

Accommodation manager Marguerite Thomas said some staff are still having trouble finding somewhere to live.

"The staff that have stayed, [the business] sponsored a couple of visa holders, when they look for accommodation, it's really hard," she said.

"There are not many rentals available because of the short term rental market and then the houses that are up for full-time rental, to get anything half decent, you're looking at $450 a week and that's on a hospitality wage.

"I moved up from the Mornington Peninsula and fortunately, I had a friend I could stay with but it took me nearly three months to find a house and even then I was only available to rent it for 12 months so in that time, I've been able to find myself a place but it's hard."

Hepburn Shire Council is in the process of developing a high-level affordable housing policy to address the issue, but Mayor Lesley Hewitt said the issue was not just confined to Daylesford or the shire.

"Council is aware that there's a lack of affordable housing and it is having a significant impact on recruiting staff in key industries and businesses," she said.

"It's not just in Daylesford, but it's across the whole shire and it's also not just in Hepburn, it's down the Great Ocean Road on the Surf Coast. It's an issue that's confronting lots of people, lots of businesses in areas like ours."

Cr Hewitt said while council's main method of addressing the issue would be through advocacy, land use planning could be another way to increase the supply of affordable housing.

"It's something that council could look at but would also need to be consulted with community about and made sure that whatever we did didn't have any unintended social and community and investment consequences," she said.

"We already had an existing and underlying problem and some of the issues that have come about due to COVID such as people moving and relocating to properties that they've owned that might have previously been on the rental market, people have relocated to them because they can work from home so it's not just a question of everything being on the short-term market.

"There has been a shift in people moving here as well to properties that they own which they are entitled to do.

"I think council's role, in part, as well as land use planning is going to be to advocate with the different levels of state government to work with other organisations to see what can be done here."

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