Green Bean keen to make a difference for homeless in Launceston

But they're not making food for themselves or their customers. For the past few months they have been making meals for Launceston's homeless population.

It's something Paul and Tracey used to do when they had a cafe in Brighton, Victoria - and something they started again after noticing how visible homelessness had become in the city.

"Where we were situated we didn't see too many, we might get five or six people a week," Mr Giddins said.

"We came down here and we noticed quite a strong appearance of homelessness here.

"I said one day to Tracey we'd do what we did in Melbourne, kick it on, do meals and it started from there."

Once a week, the team have been offering meals to those less fortunate in the Launceston area - only advertised over Facebook and word of mouth.

Serving about 50 people per week, Mr Giddins said he was open to helping anybody that was struggling, and had seen an increase of families walking through his door for a hot meal.

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"More families, more kids, we're seeing families that just can't afford to feed themselves," he said.

"We get a lot of families now, little kids too.

"There's one woman who comes in, it's one night a week that she doesn't have to put money towards food and she can put it towards catching up on her bills instead.

"My bit is when they come in, I try and make them happy.

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"When they leave me they're smiling with a full stomach and I've done my job."

Mr Giddins said that struggling in some form was a part of life - and he wanted to help as best as he can.

"It's going to get worse because of the way prices are, for electricity, for rents, for everything," he said.

"People keep blaming the government and it's not their fault.

"It's now up to us to do something. We'll keep doing it. It doesn't affect our pockets, we get the occasional donation.

"We don't want to recover the money. I just hope that if I was in that situation someone would do it for me, I think that's what it is for us."

Housing ends homelessness - and more of it is needed, according to Shelter Tas chief executive Pattie Chugg.

Ms Chugg said Tasmania's statistics when it comes to homelessness were chilling, with one in 83 people in the state receiving assistance from homelessness services last year.

"This is higher than the national rate of one in 87," she said.

"In Tasmania, half gave their reason for seeking assistance as the housing crisis, compared with 34 per cent nationally.

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"Each day last year, 36 requests for help to Tasmanian specialist homelessness services went unassisted, mainly because no suitable accommodation could be found.

"The number of unassisted requests is increasing by 20 per cent each year, and there are over 4000 people currently on the state's social housing wait list."

More than 50 specialist services work across all regions of the state, and assisted more than 6400 people last year.

"The state's critical shortage of affordable rental homes is the number one cause of homelessness," Ms Chugg said.

"The solution is also clear - build an adequate supply of affordable and social housing to ensure that stable long-term housing is available to all Tasmanians, whatever their income."

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Ms Chugg said Shelter Tas and its members supported the state government's commitment to build more social housing, but would like to see a more ambitious target, an increase from the current level of 6 per cent of all dwellings to 10 per cent.

A government spokesperson said they were working to meet increased demand with a record $615 million investment into social and affordable housing, and homelessness initiatives, which would see a total of 3500 new homes by 2027.

Ms Chugg said she believed next week's ABS Census would show an increase in the number of homeless Tasmanians.

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