"When you've got a waiting room full of crying mothers and upset children, you almost feel helpless. You're their last hope."
Mr Wilson said the opening of two new emergency housing units yesterday would help people in need but add to an already heavy workload for his staff.
That was why Mr Wilson decided to close Te Tuinga Support Services on Fridays, to allow staff to catch up on paperwork and refresh to deal with the "deluge on Monday" of new and old clients.
Many people seeking help were facing rent increases they could not afford, he said.
Mr Wilson believed some of the sudden increase in demand was from people panicking about their situation as the winter months set in.
Sleeping in a garage or on someone's lounge floor could be tolerated in summer, but when the cold nights started creeping in, people began to worry about how they would handle winter.
Mr Wilson said the situation was not sustainable for frontline agencies.
"We cannot continue like this. We're reaching breaking point. If we break, who will pick up the deluge?
"The community needs to understand this now, not when it breaks. If the Te Tuinga waka sinks, a lot of others go down with it."
Liz Kite of Under the Stars, a volunteer group that puts on a weekly meal for homeless people, said she was sure the homeless problem was getting worse, and there were not many homes available.
The group had seen success and upset in recent weeks.
One couple got off the streets after finding a place to live that was not perfect but would do until the woman's baby was born in June, good news.
But another woman that was looking for a house through Work and Income was now living in a tent.
"I get extremely frustrated, especially with no women's shelter, which is much needed. As far as I can see the situation has not improved."
The group was in desperate need of sleeping bags, blankets and toiletries.
Tauranga Community Foodbank's relief manager, who did not want to be named, said in two days he had met four homeless people who were in need of urgent help.
"It was so bad on Friday I even gave them frying pans and pots to use on the barbecues in the parks.
"Unfortunately it's only going to get worse. It's not just low socio-economic groups, but middle-class people as well."
Merivale School principal Jan Tinetti, who is also Labour's Tauranga candidate in the coming elections, said housing and poverty-related problems were starting to ramp up again.
"Several families in the last couple of weeks have been put out of their homes or have had rent increases and can't afford it anymore."
The colder weather made difficult housing situations more unbearable, Ms Tinetti said.
May was the bad month last year, and it struck without warning. This year, Ms Tinetti said they were better prepared.
"I'm crossing my fingers - and toes - it's not going to happen again."
Tauranga MP Simon Bridges said homelessness and emergency housing were priority issues and "that's why more funding is going into this than ever before" to help services such as Te Tuinga Support Services.
"The Government's social housing programme in Tauranga will be a significant step forward for the most vulnerable in our community, ensuring many more warm, dry homes."
Bay of Plenty District Health Board health equity/public health manager Brian Pointon said the health board was continuing to work with local and central government agencies on short and long-term actions to address homelessness.
Mr Pointon said the longer-term solution would be placing the chronically homeless people into secure housing while other social and health issues were sorted out.
The shorter term solution was freeing up housing for emergency accommodation.
Mr Pointon said there appeared to have been a reduction in the number of older, chronically homeless men in the Tauranga area as they had moved away to other locations, after having stabilised their lives to a degree through the Tauranga Moana Night Shelter.
Tauranga City Council community development manager Meagan Holmes said the council, central government and local not-for-profit groups were working hard to increase housing options for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
