They have provided a laundry on wheels and mobile showers.
But Nicholas Marchesi and Lucas Patchett's latest initiative to assist people who are homeless is hi-tech – an orange hatchback filled with folding chairs and a large screen equipped with mobile and internet technology.
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Orange Sky pioneered mobile laundry services for the homeless and now they have launched a service offering a big screen TV and internet technology. Vision supplied: Orange Sky
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From mobile laundries to living rooms
Orange Sky pioneered mobile laundry services for the homeless and now they have launched a service offering a big screen TV and internet technology. Vision supplied: Orange Sky
The duo, both 22, described their new service, Orange Sky Digital, as a vehicle to create positive conversations and foster a sense of community.
"Essentially what we can do with this vehicle is play - it might be - pictures, video and or music, which sparks up a conversation," Mr Patchett said.
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It will also provide information about crisis accommodation, food, employment and mental health services.
"There are so many great community services available but many of those who experience homelessness, they just don't know how to access support," Mr Patchett said in a statement.
But their efforts with the digital project and Orange Sky Laundry – for which they were named Young Australians of the Year in 2016 – have been criticised as ineffective and undermining the dignity of people who are homeless.
"I think they are doing something to try and help but their intentions don't match the outcomes. They're wrong," said Dr Cameron Parsell, a senior researcher at the University of Queensland's Institute of Social Science Research.
"Just because what people are doing is in the name of benevolence, it doesn't mean it's right."
Mr Marchesi said: "A washing machine, a shower and Orange Sky Digital won't put a roof over someone's head. But that's not our core mission. Our mission is to positively connect people."
The Brisbane-based duo relied on their "homeless friends" for advice: "Lucas and I are two young blokes who are volunteers and by no means are we experts in the homelessness sector."
Through their new venture, homeless people will also be able to create content about services.
"A homeless friend might shoot a video about the Wayside Chapel or about a rehab clinic in town," Mr Marchesi said. "I guess more informed homeless friends and more informed volunteers mean that we can positively connect our homeless friends better."
A registered charity, Orange Sky reported a profit of $1.16 million in the 2015-16 financial year.
"Any money we make is reinvested into our charity," Mr Marchesi said.
Experts in the homeless sector, however, argue that attention and money should be directed at ending homelessness, not providing temporary "comfort measures".
Dr Parsell said services such as mobile laundry and shower facilities undermined the dignity of people who are homeless.
"Not only is it ineffective, it really undermines any dignity person may feel having to shower and wash in public spaces, particularly when we know ending their homelessness is possible and cost-effective," he said.
"It constitutes a failure to come up with any kind of just and innovative solution that focuses on housing."
Dr Parsell said his research, published last year in the British Journal of Social Work, showed it cost the taxpayer more to keep a person chronically homeless ($48,217 each) than to provide permanent housing ($35,117).
"It would be much better as a society to redirect that goodwill to provide housing."
The acting chief executive of the Council to Homeless Persons, Kate Colvin, said more public and community housing would provide vulnerable people with options beyond "dodgy" rooming houses, caravan parks and crisis accommodation.
"Philanthropists and organisations need to consider where to channel their energy and funding," she said. "And the reality is that ending homelessness starts with boosting affordable housing, not providing comfort measures."
The chief executive of the Mercy Foundation, Felicity Reynolds, said providing amenities such as laundry and showers normalises homelessness.
"I'd be careful about criticising other people's well-meant efforts," she said. "But I think we should end homelessness and not endlessly service it."
The Australian Bureau of Statistics counted more than 100,000 people as homeless in 2011, but only 6 per cent were living on the streets, according to Ms Reynolds.