When power was cut off at two of Brisbane's biggest tent cities by the local council, criticism came fast from frontline services.
While the lights in the park have stayed on, power points and electric BBQs at Musgrave and Kurilpa Point park are no longer in use.
Warm food can't be cooked and phones can't be charged.
But as the council reports an escalation in violence and anti-social behaviour, some advocates are reluctant to criticise the decision.
"I think the complexity of Musgrave Park is hard for the average person to understand. We're oversimplifying it all the time," says Karen Walsh, CEO of Micah Projects, a not-for-profit that works to end social injustice.
"We know the dynamic in encampments - there's relational issues, there's often illegal activity occurring that makes it unsafe for people there and in the community."
Ms Walsh said while the communication from the council was inadequate, people shouldn't get sidetracked from the real issue.
"What we need is to not really have people living in tents as the answer to homelessness or the housing crisis."
Brisbane City Council has supplied pictures that show drug use, fires and vandalism to BBQs to justify turning off the power, while also alleging there have been stabbings.
"The serious escalation of violence and anti-social behaviour in these encampments is incredibly concerning and the power has been switched off for safety reasons," City Standards Committee chair Sarah Hutton said.
Others argue switching off the power won't help the issue.
"The council want to project to the community that they're doing something without actually doing any of the hard work to actually get people into housing, or to be putting pressure on the state and federal governments to be investing enough," Greens MP Amy MacMahon said.
That investment needs to urgently go to improving safe accommodation for people waiting for long-term housing, advocates say.
And there's history in dealing with this issue, with proven pathways out.
"Fifteen years ago we had 120 tents on the river bank, 80 tents on Riverside Drive. It's not the only time in history we've dealt with it, we know it takes very strong co-ordination," Ms Walsh said.
The problem is, the conversations keep going around in circles.
"I think we've got an election interrupting things, we have different political paradigms, different points of view," she said.
Any action that has been taken has been far too slow, the Greens argue.
"Labor have been building social housing at a snail's pace," Ms MacMahon said.
"They've been selling off public housing, they've failed to do anything about skyrocketing rents and mortgages, and now they are punishing those people who are the victims of their failure to address the housing crisis."
Ms Hutton, who was elected to the Brisbane council in 2020 on a Liberal National Party ticket, accused the Greens of being soft on crime and "routinely opposing" the construction of new homes.
For the residents of the parks, the power remains off with uncertainty as to how and when they'll be able to move on.
