The co-ordinator for Belfast Homeless Service says it is hard to hang on to hope amid a spate of deaths on the streets.
Liz Rocks has more than 20 years of working to help homeless people and has said the lack of a Stormont Executive is a life or death matter.
"We have to try and hold on to hope - hope's a very small word with a very big meaning but sometimes it's very hard to hang on to that," she told Belfast Live.
Read more: Tributes to 'bubbly and caring' Glengormley woman who died suddenly
"All these deaths in the last few months, if that doesn't send a message to people that we're in a crisis here, then there's something seriously wrong.
"We're being told that there is money there for services around addiction and mental health but it can't be released because we have no Executive.
"I just can't for the life of me understand how people in that position cannot just put their personal issues aside and that old mindset and focus on these vital issues."
It follows the death of young Glengormley woman Jessica McFarland at the weekend, who had previously been on the streets and suffered with addiction issues.
Liz told Belfast Live that she had seen the heart breaking impact of deaths on Belfast's streets at a special memorial service held at the end of last month.
"The sobs and the tears of the families left behind was horrendous," she said.
"To other people, they're just another statistic, but to us they're human beings and there's families left behind in total grief.
"When you know the person of the families left behind, it really brings home the impact."
Liz also said that when someone dies on the streets, it is homeless people who feel it more than most.
"They're really upset seeing people from their community passing," she said.
"There's a sense of community among them and they would be quite friendly with each other and see each other as family.
"They're just seeing one person after the next person after the next person going and they're dealing with the loss of them as well and they have their own level of grief because they knew them."
Liz has called for funding for better preventative services to be released, around mental health and dealing with traumas that can often lead people onto the streets and into addiction.
"We hear their stories, we know their stories and that's a privileged position.
"If that trauma was dealt with in the early stages, then maybe that would prevent them from going down that path.
"If we had more preventative measures in place it would help - if we had a drug overdose hub in place, these things could reduce it or prevent it, I'm not saying it would stop it but it would reduce it.
"As long as we have that Executive stalemate they're sending a very clear message that they don't care.
"It's people on the ground like us and other volunteer groups who are doing the caring while they sit there and pick up their wages still - it's not acceptable and it shouldn't be happening."
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