Charities say the demand for homelessness support is at its greatest level in more than a decade, as growing numbers of Victorians face life on the streets for the first time.

In the past year there has been a rapid increase in the number of people visiting free inner-city meal programs.

The Salvation Army's Major Brendan Nottle said people also seemed more distraught by the time they reached out for help. "There's a lot more stress, there's a bigger sense of desperation than I've seen before," he said.

Since the start of the year, there has been a 60 to 100 per cent rise in the number of people receiving breakfast and lunch at the Salvation Army's Bourke Street cafe.

The cafe now feeds up to 250 people for lunch, when at the beginning of the year they were catering for about half that number.