In any given year about 5800 ex-serving men and women face homelessness, according to the Australian Research and Urban Research Institute.
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The data released in 2020 was the first time the true extent of homelessness for Australian veterans was revealed.
With homeless veterans often not recognised, Mandurah and Rockingham homeless advocate Owen Farmer is working to change that.
Since 2014 he had a dream to have a statue that recognises veterans that have fallen on hard times and this year on Vietnam Veterans Day his wish finally came true.
Now standing proud in Rockingham, 'The Homeless Soldier' statue is understood to be the first of its kind in Australia.
"I'd always wanted to do something for the homeless veterans because my brothers were homeless when they came home from Vietnam and Singapore," Mr Farmer said.
"I've always had this dream in my heart but I never had the money.
"I got chatting to a homeless man and he said he would make the statue for me."
It took two years for veteran Laurence Drage, who experienced homelessness in the past, to make the statue out of scrap metal.
Every piece of metal he put into the statue he mentally had a homeless person's name on it.
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Mr Farmer said he was over the moon to be able to recognise veterans doing it tough.
"It recognises people who have served that have fallen on hard times that don't often speak up or stand up.
"There's quite a lot of homeless veterans that don't even want to come forward to get help because they've lost so much of their self esteem.
"This statue shows how easy it is to fall within the cracks of loneliness to living on the streets.
"People that are also homeless can now come up and pay a silent tribute at the statue and help them get through their challenges after getting discharged from the army, navy or air force."
Over 200 people came to the unveiling of the statue with councillor Dave Schumacher there to show his respects and represent the City of Mandurah.
"It was absolutely amazing. I don't shake too much but I was shaking that day," Mr Farmer said.
"It's the first in Australia and it's right in our backyard. It was my dream, my wish and it's finally come to fruition."
