They are living among us, in almost all parts of Australia, and yet most of us barely give them a second thought, much less money, resources or time.
On any given night, more than 120,000 people are experiencing homelessness, and are either couchsurfing, seeking shelter in a crisis accommodation or rooming houses, or sleeping rough.
Around one in seven of those homeless people are children under 12.
It's almost too hard to contemplate, much like another part of the spectrum, the disturbing rise of women over the age of 50 who find themselves without a secure place to live.
Not to mention all the others in between - older children in insecure homes, adults with addiction or mental health issues, women and children fleeing violence.
Homelessness touches all demographics, and those without secure homes live in cities and towns throughout Australia.
It's hardly surprising services for those experiencing homelessness are stretched to the limit; hundreds of people are turned away from such services every day due to staff shortages and lack of resources.
It's a tough time for many Australians, with the cost-of-living crisis, business downturn and the state of the economy in general.
The number of people struggling to make ends meet is rising all the time, but it's those on the lower end of the economic spectrum who are doing it the toughest.
Today we mark the start of National Homelessness Week - with a newly installed federal minister for homelessness in Clare O'Neil - and a new report revealing the ever harsher reality of the crisis hitting Aussie families.
The report from Homelessness Australia says more than 76,000 children under the age of 18 sought help from homelessness support services across the nation annually, and almost 16,000 of these children were without a parent or caregiver.
The current housing crisis has inflamed an already bad situation and increasingly overwhelmed services.
We should also acknowledge the large numbers of people who are stepping up to help, through money, time and resources.
Countless volunteers, shelter and service staff and donors are quietly doing their part to try and ease the burden on those who can't even find a secure place to land each night.
Among them is Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth, who is the largest private donor to Fletcher Street Cottage, the homeless hub in his home shire.
It may be known as an enclave for the wealthy and glamorous, but Byron Bay has one of the highest numbers of rough sleepers in NSW.
It is the starkest and most paradoxical example of how a country of plenty like Australia is increasingly a place of vast economic inequality throughout its population.
In our story today, Hemsworth wants more people like him in the big end of town to step up and do more to help the homeless, not just where he lives, but across the nation.
It may be hard to square the notion of someone as famous as Hemsworth with the idea of homelessness.
But without help from him and other benefactors, a place like Fletcher Street Cottage would likely have to close.
The NSW government is to be congratulated for stepping in with emergency funding for Fletcher St Cottage, but it is clear that the broader issue needs greater focus.
As the housing crisis and the cost-of-living crisis collide, governments need to pay extra attention to those people at the most marginal edges of society.
The situation faced by so many hardly bears thinking about, but we can no longer afford to look away.
We cannot leave these people behind.