Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says it is unacceptable that after 16 years of economic growth, up to 100,000 Australians can be sleeping in shelters or on the streets on any given night.
Mr Rudd wants a new approach to get people off the streets and back on their feet and has formed a committee to improve crisis services and help people get long-term housing.
Experts cite drug and alcohol abuse as well as mental illness as the main reasons people end up homeless. Homeless people give their own, varied accounts.