People are sleeping in their cars. People are sleeping in emergency accommodation. People are sleeping rough. And every day 65 people are turned away from specialist homelessness services in WA because there are not the resources to support them. Homelessness Prevention Week was launched in Perth on Monday to raise awareness about a problem that affects 43 people in every 10,000 in WA. That means around 9500 people are homeless, but that's just the tip of the iceberg, according to peak body, Shelter WA, with another 7000 people just one step away from losing a roof over their heads. "Both groups would more than fill the Perth Arena every night," Shelter WA executive officer Chantal Roberts said.

Her organisation hosts HPW locally while Homelessness Australia co-ordinates it nationally Ms Roberts said the most visible group experiencing homelessness, people who slepts rough, only comprised six per cent of all of those experiencing homelessness. "The majority of people experiencing homelessness move from one temporary solution to another, sleeping in their cars, or on a friend's floor or couch," she said. "They are the largest proportion of our homeless population, but they are largely out of sight and out of mind as they move from one place to the next." Of WA's homeless population:

5355 (56 per cent) are men

4236 (44 per cent) are women

2427 (25.2 per cent) are aged 18 years or younger

1496 (15.6 per cent) are aged 55 years and over and

3384 (35.3 per cent) identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. There are a variety of reasons for homelessness.including:  37 per cent - breakdown of interpersonal relationships including domestic violence or relationship breakdown

27 per cent - financial difficulties

20 per cent - unable to find affordable, appropriate accommodation

12 per cent - other reasons, including transitioning from care or due to discrimination; and

four per cent - health reasons. Ms Roberts said new and innovative solutions were needed to address homelessness, but that everyone could play a role as well as government. "We need to shift our mindset from looking at housing as primarily a means of generating wealth and realise its use as a basic form of shelter and stability for the whole of society," she said.

"As a community we should all be thinking about what each one of us can do to ensure our friends, family and others do not become homeless." Ms Roberts said more investment in social and affordable housing by corporate organisations could make a difference. "We need developers to build more social and affordable housing, and not just on the urban fringe, but in locations which have access to jobs and services," she said. "Growing the supply of affordable housing in our community will limit the number of Western Australians experiencing or at risk of homelessness." Anglicare WA's 2015 Rental Affordability Snapshot found that rental prices were still prohibitive in the metropolitan area where only 0.1 per cent of properties available were affordable for individuals and families on government benefits.

Less than 25 per cent of properties were affordable in the Perth region for individuals and families on the minimum wage. Follow WAtoday on Twitter