Despite everyone's best efforts, there is no silver bullet to fix homelessness.
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As cost of living rises along with increased cases of family violence, coupled with an exponential rise in property prices and a crush on rentals, more people are falling prey.
And the visibility of homelessness is growing, with more and more people in Tasmania pitching tents in public places.
In one way this is a good outcome, because the visibility has forced the wider community to confront the issue, rather than have it hidden in the shadows.
This week is National Homelessness Week and it has laid bare the challenges faced by community leaders in how to respond to a problem that is a tangled web.
The theme of National Homelessness Week is "we need a plan to end homelessness" and Housing Minister Guy Barnett has been at the ready to talk about the state government's social housing agenda.
Building homes is, at the crux of it, what Tasmania needs, but it's not the only way the state government can help those who need it. This week it was revealed homeless people were walking away from City Mission's Safe Space program in Launceston, which is funded by the government.
Some homeless people refuse to return to Safe Space, because they no longer feel safe there, due to staffing and security issues.
No one is going to sit here and say City Mission isn't doing the best job it can with the funding and resources it has available - but what does come into question is the model. An extra 11 rooms temporarily funded by the state that give privacy, as opposed to the dormitory-style rooms have been popular and have worked in other states.
It shows the lack of privacy and the pressure-cooker element of being crammed together like sardines isn't the best option - and just because the homeless end up with a roof over their head doesn't mean they don't deserve the same dignity as anyone else.
It also doesn't mean they should settle for whatever roof comes there way, because the alternative is the outdoors.
It's clear the Safe Space model has an important place as a response to homelessness, but there's no reason why the model couldn't be reviewed - or adopted - to provide new ways of supporting people who are experiencing homelessness.
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