“Once you get involved in housing policy and advocacy, it's pretty hard to let it go,” Pattie says.

“When I first started, the difficulties people on low incomes faced in being housed was such a revelation to me, even back then.

“And the importance of housing as your basic human right, your platform for living – if you don't have a home where you can relax and have your own security, nothing else can really work very well.”

For Pattie, Homelessness Week is an important opportunity to highlight the real face of homelessness in the community.

“It's not necessarily the stereotype of the person sleeping on the street – homelessness is often very hidden and that means there's a lot more there to be done and it is important for us to get that message out there,” she says.

“But Homelessness Week is also an opportunity to focus on solutions on how to end homelessness, and acknowledge the great work that people are doing.”

With Shelter Tasmania marking 50 years this year, Pattie says the organisation has had many big wins, most notably tenancy reform and the 15-year campaign to have the state’s public housing debt waived, but notes there is still plenty of work to do.

“We need to be increasing housing supply, but not any houses, it has to be targeted to rental homes that stay affordable and safe for people in the long-term,” Pattie says.

“We also need affordable and social housing to be embedded in our planning system, so developments include a proportion of affordable and social homes.

“We want the community to be supportive when social housing is being built in their neighbourhoods and understand that it can be a really important and vibrant part of the community.

“We're all trying to solve the housing crisis, and I know that Shelter Tas is well-placed to take a strong lead – we're trusted, we're committed and we're not going away. After 50 years, we’ve shown we're here and we're bigger and better than ever.”