When that statistic was released a few months ago, it sent a shiver down the spine of anyone familiar with the country's current housing crisis.

It was described as a wake up call, but it has not, at least as yet, spurred significant and tangible action on addressing why so many people are homeless or nearly homeless.

Of course, small steps are being taken at a government level, but with the cost of living rising amid record-high inflation and soaring interest rates affecting Tasmanians' quality of life now, some are taking matters into their own hands.

Fae Drakkon's idea of a dream home may leave others scratching their heads, but that is their problem, she said from her kitchen/dining/laundry/living room.

She recently moved into a 20ft shipping container, and she could not be happier.

Her small, black box of a home sits on a quarter-acre suburban block in Burnie, surrounded by homes that are, comparatively, mansions.

Adorned with design touches that are uniquely her's, Fae said she had dreamed about living in a tiny home since she was a young girl.

"I have always loved tiny homes," she said.

"And a shipping container specifically really appealed to me because I love how neat they are.

"They are just a perfect little shoebox, and I've had that idea since I was a kid."

And though Fae's dreams were realised with an inheritance, the total cost of her brand new home and land came in at less than $140,000.

Of course factoring in a six-figure inheritance is not something that all first-time homebuyers can factor in to their decision making, but such a price tag does make it a much more realistic option to young people looking to get a foot in the door.

Fae said once she secured her piece of land in Burnie, she looked all over Australia for a company that made shipping container tiny homes, but she need not have cast her net so wide.

Jason Zadow owns and runs Tiny Homes Tasmania, a Launceston-based company that he says specialises in "tiny, affordable, luxury living".

In recent years Fae's "shoebox" is just one of many shipping containers his team has made a home.

He said shipping container living had long been a fascination for him, too, and armed with a builder's licence and a master's degree in architecture he designed and built his first about four years ago.

"In the beginning it was more of an experiment," Jason said.

"I always wanted to build inside a shipping container and I had a spare, so I built a prototype.

"When I put it up to sell it was really, really popular. So I went again. And again.

"And about a year after we started it began to become quite obvious there was a housing shortage."

Mr Zadow said there was a distinct, and even split in his customers between people who need an affordable, comfortable home, and those looking for an addition to existing properties.

"A lot of our clientele don't want to, or can't rent, and they are in need of a cheaper option, but not an option that is going to be uncomfortable or not feel like a home," he said.

He said many customers come to him with a small amount of savings they know they will drain in the rental market, even if they could get a lease.

"But if they do opportunity to get some land or have a family member with enough space for an ancillary dwell, this is ideal.

"It can be a lot safer for them, it gives them a sense of security, and although it is small it is everything they need to get ahead in life."

Shipping container living may be the market's reaction to the state's housing crisis, but a University of Tasmania researcher says it is far from an equitable solution.

"I'm not saying anything against them," Dr Kathleen Flanagan begins.

"If it works for you, then great, some people swear by tiny home living. But the reality is that the scale of the problem we've got is that it is not a crisis, it is a step beyond that.

"We are running out of vocabulary to describe it."

Fortunately, Dr Flanagan believes the solution to the problem is relatively simple, and it has even been done before.

Unfortunately, that was at the end of two World Wars and in the midst of the Great Depression.

"What we actually need is just bulk, standard, ordinary social housing," she said.

"We know what it is, we know how to build it. We just need the government to put up the money to do it.

"All these other bright ideas, they may work for certain cohorts, but they are not a solution to the problem."

The Tasmanian state government has announced a plan to build 10,000 homes over the next 10 years, but Dr Flanagan said not only will that number fail to address the scale of the problem, the government has not guaranteed each of those homes will be dedicated toward social housing.

Meanwhile, she said, the federal Labor government has not showed any sign it will address any policies, such as negative gearing, that incentivise "speculative investment in real estate... that has taken housing out of the reach of most ordinary people".

Fae knows that her particular version of happiness is not for everyone, but she is happy to defend herself and laugh off her detractors.

Someone was so offended by her container they took a photo and shared it to a Burnie Facebook group, calling it ugly, but were resoundingly booed in the comments.

Elsewhere on social media her home has been called ugly and impractical, but Fae is unfazed.

"This is it, this my dream home, believe it or not.

"I had one chance to potentially live rent free, so I decided that was what I was going to do."