Yet the successful managing director of Viridian IT has this year gone public about his experiences in Bendigo, a bid to break down stigma and help raise money for the St Vincent de Paul Society.

"I'd tell the staff I was just going to work late and bunker down in the office," the Bendigo resident said.

"There were nights when people were working late and I was not able to do that. I'd have to leave and source some other options."

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Mr Lowe was speaking about his six week struggle to find a rental after the breakdown of a marriage in 2013.

He had advantages others in his situation did not, like a car, a job and the keys to his office.

Yet it has only been this year that he has become comfortable sharing how, for six weeks, he had no home to go to.

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Mr Lowe went public to help raise $1.2 million and counting for the Vinnies CEO Sleepout, an annual event in which executives swap their beds for hard concrete floors, seek donations and help Vinnies services.

"With homelessness, it is oftentimes the people you don't expect," he said.

The more we talk about it the more we can help both at an organisational level through things like Vinnies CEO Sleepout and at an individual level."

Mr Lowe hoped his experiences would help break down the stigma many people experiencing homelessness carry at a time when Bendigo is experiencing chronic rental shortages and a cost of living crisis.

He had found himself without a home even after spending seven years building a successful business.

"Don't get me wrong, we were doing quite well but through all that work my social life had suffered and I wasn't originally from Bendigo, so I didn't have a wide circle of friends," he said.

A Viridian IT client and real estate agent eventually learned Mr Lowe was looking for a rental and helped out.

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Yet many people who knew Mr Lowe back in 2013 had no idea he had experienced homelessness until he sent an email to clients, colleagues, friends and suppliers earlier this year asking them to the Vinnies CEO Sleepout.

"I've had people reach out," he said.

"They said things that I knew at the time to be true but would not have accepted through shame, like 'you should have told us, we could have helped you'.

"Logically, I know that. Of course they would have helped, but I could not bring myself to do it, for whatever reason."

To donate to the Vinnies CEO Sleepout visit the Victorian website.

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