It is a quiet, calm way of living for Nathaniel Walsh and his partner Lizzie Barber in their suburban Townsville unit.
Surrounded by their own art, a meticulously kept garden and in the company of their two cats, it's a fulfilling life they describe as "a dream come true".
But it's a far cry from how they used to live.
For decades, the pair slept rough in Townsville parks and on riverbanks struggling with alcohol abuse.
It's been 10 years since they were homeless and they are considered a success story when it comes to breaking the cycle.
Dushy Thangiah, the CEO of not-for-profit community housing provider Yumba Meta, said the organisation has been successful in pulling people out of recurring homelessness through support and referrals.
She wants governments to bolster funding for these supports and see housing providers for the "one stop shop" services they provide.
"One of the challenges I find is that we are deemed as housing providers, but we are more than that," she said.
"We are looked at as, 'You are given this many properties and now you just manage them.' That is not how we sustain a tenancy."
She believes governments need to start looking at community housing bodies through a "different lens" and consider the work they do to help people succeed in tenancies.
"People going into a home and failing a tenancy and going back [on the street] comes at a very high cost. If you fund the supports, we can reduce that cost and that money can go to building new homes."
According to the Queensland Council of Social Services, there are more than 4,000 people in Townsville waiting for housing on the Queensland Social Housing Register with an average wait time of 33.4 months.
'Half a life' sleeping rough
When Mr Walsh and Ms Barber were sleeping rough, they said they became tired of a cycle of drinking and fighting.
When Mr Walsh came to Townsville from Palm Island in the late eighties, he said it was grief from the death of seven of his brothers and six of his sisters which led him to drink.
"I had no way of finding anyone to talk to and lean on for support. I just let myself go," he said.
"We did a lot of drinking and fighting. Coppers would come down there and split us up."
The pair started visiting the Diversionary Centre, a sobering up facility which was established as an alternative to the police watch house for those who are intoxicated in public.
It was from there that they enrolled in the Breaking the Cycle program, entered short term accommodation and eventually became tenants in homes owned by Yumba Meta.
They said they were caught on a "merry go round" of drinking, which stopped them from finding stable accommodation.
"My family had homes but I sort of felt like I had become a burden to them because of the way I was living," Ms Barber said.
Mr Walsh said when he first got independent accommodation, he struggled to leave his "old habits" behind.
He said he had lots of people around for drinking sessions and was eventually given a notice of eviction and decided he would head back to the park.
It wasn't until he was able to stop drinking that he started enjoying life.
"I was inside that bottle and I was stuck and I couldn't get out of there until I climbed to the top. When you pop the lid of the bottle and climb out you actually see life so much better."
"When she [Ms Barber] saw the letter of eviction she cried. She said, 'You are not going back to the park,'" he said.
They then moved in together and have lived in two properties in the last eight years.
"What we have now was our little dream and that is now a reality. The help and support of Yumba Meta has done us real good," he said.
"We have got everything in life now. I'd rather get up today and look at my electricity bill. It's a lot better than getting up with a hangover."
Concern for health
Uncle Paul Conway was also living rough in Townsville when he suffered a heart attack in a park where he was sleeping.
"I thought, 'I can't live this sort of life anymore for myself,'" he said.
At the time he was drinking heavily, and he too had spent decades living rough.
Now 57, he said if it wasn't for his accommodation and the support he would probably have died of health problems related to his heart.
"A lot of them have passed on young and they are still passing on. It could have been me if I didn't get up and get help. It really hurts me today when I see my people out there. It reminds me of me."
He said when he sees people he knew from his days when he was homeless still sleeping in parks he feels sad.
"It's only because of that organisation that I am still here. I thought I wouldn't last that long living in a place. I am not done yet."
Lack of vacancies
Ms Thangiah believes that with the housing crisis deepening, the government needs to look at where there are vacancies and see how they can be used.
"We hardly have a vacancy. Most of the time occupancy is like 99 point something per cent. It is hard for us to help because there is just no housing," she said.
"We need to look at what we have and what vacancies we have. I was told there are defence houses that are vacant and also lots of investors who have properties empty."
She said organisations like Yumba Meta could give assurances to investors that properties would be well tenanted and looked after.
"We need a quicker solution than building. We needs something now."
