"For some people it just takes one bad month and you could be sleeping on your friends' couch and that's homelessness - it's not just sleeping under a bridge."
Rowsell should know.
She is a volunteer with homeless outreach programmes in Australia; currently 3rd Space in central Brisbane, a drop-in centre where those without homes can have a shower, wash their clothes, rest up and have a meal.
Before that she volunteered at St Vincent de Paul, another homeless outreach programme in Canberra.
Rowsell said even though many homeless are dealing with complex issues, "housing has to come first for people".
"For the people who come in ... we can't help them with drug and alcohol issues until we help with housing."
In November the Northern Advocate teamed up with The Hits Northland, Whakamanamai Whānau Trust and Solomon Group to furnish portable cabins for residents struggling to get into conventional housing.
The trust's Whare to the Whenua scheme allows people to locate the cabins on their whenua and pay what they can afford each week, often with the goal of owning them.
Our aim was to fit out 10 of these portacoms with an equal number of quality beds, couches, chairs, bedside tables and dressing tables to transform the small buildings into homes.
All four groups involved in the campaign have been inundated with offers of donations from kind-hearted readers from Northland to Auckland, along with Rowsell in Australia.
This week crews hit the road to pick up the items.
The Hits client and content solutions manager Dillon Johnstone was in the midst of coordinating 34 pick-ups from across Northland from Thursday until today.
"It's quite overwhelming," he said.
"We go to pick up stuff and while we're there, people are piling on more and more stuff they've found in their house.
"It's mindblowing how giving people are.
"Even when people can't donate furniture they're still going out of their way to donate services."