These are the words of 42-year-old Monique Pearce, who will be speaking at Canberra's Community Sleepout on Friday night, where hundreds of people will abandon their beds and sleep on the AIS track.

The third annual event is organised by St Vincent de Paul Society Canberra/Goulburn and Communities@Work, this year highlighting the correlation of domestic violence and homelessness. Donations are on track to beat last year's $108,000, which assisted people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Ms Pearce has been in either situation for most of her life.

Before moving to government housing supported by St Vincent de Paul, she was either living on the streets or "one step and a heartbeat away from them" since her teenage years. She has hitchhiked around Australia, stayed in auction houses with no electricity, and lived on lukewarm, bug-infested water that made her sick.

"I spent a month and a half in Melbourne but it was too cold, and then I went to the airport to go wherever and they sent me on a cheap cancellation flight to Darwin," she said.

"But a heatwave hit me and then it wasn't a matter of being too cold, but being thirsty."

She believes she's "destined" to be homeless because she developed psychogenic amnesia from the emotional stress and trauma she experienced at a young age, making her unable to complete her studies of commerce at the University of Canberra. Having suffered from physical abuse and homelessness, she'll raise awareness of their relationship in her speech.

It's a connection that is often misunderstood, stressed the president of St Vincent de Paul Society Canberra/Goulburn, Frank Brassil.

"Family violence is certainly one of the causes of homelessness, but it works the other way as well," he said.

"For people who are trapped in situations of family violence, the critical shortage of social affordable housing in our community means people who are suffering domestic violence don't have anywhere to escape to."

With around 30 per cent of all homelessness cases linked to violence, the CEO of the Tara Costigan Foundation, Michael Costigan, said there is not enough communication between government and the community service sector or among organisations within the sector. He'll also be speaking at the sleepout.

"A draught horse can drag one tonne of concrete," Mr Costigan said. "Two draught horses individually could drag two tonnes. If you have those two draught horses work together, they can actually drag four tonnes and you get twice the results.

"We've just been proven time and time again that by operating on our own we are getting things done but we're not doing enough."

Tara Costigan died in Calwell in February from domestic violence. The Tara Costigan Foundation's Tara Angels service targets homelessness by helping victims of domestic violence redesign their lives and stop them ending up on the streets.

On any night, 2000 Canberrans are homeless. While Canberra is a high socio-economic city,15 per cent of people in the area live below the poverty line.

Those who are on the cusp of homelessness will also benefit from the funds raised by the community sleepout, the CEO of Communities@Work, Lynne Harwood, explained.

"It's a very big step between being social-welfare dependent and being independent and financially self-sufficient. So providing more support to help people on that journey is really crucial," she said.

A report released on Thursday by the community and private sector found high rents in Canberra mean many people on low incomes cannot afford to see a dentist or a doctor and struggle with heating bills.

ANU students will also be supporting St Vincent de Paul by sleeping outside in Union Court on Friday night. Joseph Frawley, who is completing his law honours at ANU, has been sleeping rough in his car since August for the same cause.