Rough sleepers have made the makeshift Flinders Street camp their home, with bedding, food, rubbish, pet waste and discarded clothes lining the footpath outside the iconic train station. The homeless camp outside Flinders Street Station on Wednesday. Credit:Joe Armao On Wednesday, Cr Doyle said he was not convinced that council officers or the police needed any further powers to force homeless people to move away from high-traffic areas. It would not fix the problem, he said, but instead shift homeless people to other parts of the CBD. "There are cities around the world where they simply bundle homeless people up and ship them out," Cr Doyle said.

"I'd hate to think that we were ever that sort of city. We need to address the problem, not just do a cosmetic clean up." A man sits at the homeless camp outside Flinders Street Station. Credit:Joe Armao Cr Doyle said if people were forced away from the station they would only move to other rough sleeping hot spots such as Enterprize Park, Treasury Gardens and City Square. Victoria Police Superintendent David Clayton said police used move-on powers for problems around night-clubs and protests, not for homeless people. A large homeless camp outside Flinders Street Station. Credit:Eddie Jim

"It's not an offence to be homeless," he said. "It's not a very good look what's going on there on Flinders Street, but it's not an offence to sit or sleep on the street." Credit:Joe Armao We need to address the problem, not just do a cosmetic clean up. Lord mayor Robert Doyle However, council officers can remove larger structures such as tents, as it is illegal to camp under the Activities Local Law 2009. Last week the council removed about 130 kilograms of rubbish or discarded items from squats in the CBD.

Superintendent Clayton said police would also arrest and charge those found taking drugs. About 19 people are estimated to be living at the Flinders Street camp. But they represent just the tip of a very large iceberg. At least 247 people are thought to be sleeping rough in Melbourne's inner-city, and at least 20,000 people across Victoria are homeless. The increased presence of homeless people in Melbourne has attracted hundreds of complaints to Melbourne City Council from business, visitors and resident's, as Fairfax Media reported last year.

One visitor who wrote to the council said they were "horrified" by the presence of beggars in Melbourne. "I travel the world extensively and there is no other city in the world where this is tolerated," they wrote. "The whole image is detrimental to the city's reputation." The chief executives of 36 homelessness, housing and social service organisations penned an open letter on Wednesday calling for a shift in the conversation from "shaming" rough sleepers to focussing attention on the nationwide shortage of affordable housing. "Vilifying people sleeping rough does not help them, splashing the faces of people in crisis in the paper only further stigmatises and isolates them, and fuels public fear and resentment," they said.

"Yes, it is shameful that there are people sleeping on the streets in a country as affluent as Australia. The real shame is that this crisis has been with us for some time, and it is only now that it has become visible in our streets that there is outrage and reaction." While the chief executives praised the work of the Melbourne City Council "struggling valiantly to balance a humanitarian response" and the recent $600 million commitment from the state government for homelessness and social housing, they said street homelessness would continue until something was done about the national housing crisis. "We are still awaiting the Victorian affordable housing strategy," they said. "Our federal government is a long way from having a plan to tackle this problem. Meanwhile, those on lowest incomes are being pursued by automated Centrelink debt notices, reducing their already meagre incomes. This will inevitably increase homelessness." Loading

Metro Trains, which holds the lease to Flinders Street Station, said they had received just one complaint about the homeless people gathered there. "We recognise the challenges of homelessness in our city and will continue to work with the relevant agencies so that Flinders Street Station remains safe and accessible for all passengers," Metro spokeswoman Sammie Black said.