At 6:30am at Melbourne's Enterprise Park, Salvation Army staff arrive to check on the homeless who sleep beneath the pillars of the railway bridge.

They usually offer hot food and drinks but on this cold and rainy day, the people huddled under sleeping bags did not stir.

Brendan Nottle from the Salvation Army said the number of people sleeping in the area had dwindled following the murder of a homeless man the previous year.

"I feel that people have sensed well this is not a safe place to stay anymore," Major Nottle said.

"The lighting's a lot better, there's CCTV all along Swanston Street ... and they sleep near the police station.

"There's been a significant shift in homeless people from this area up to Swanston Street, so it's made homelessness a lot more visible in this city."

People sleeping on the streets are not only more visible, there are also more of them.

While there are no hard figures on the number of homeless in the city, service providers agreed there were more people sleeping rough this winter than in previous years.

Jenny Smith from the Council for Homeless Persons said there were about 23,000 people in Victoria without permanent housing and about 1,000 without any shelter.

"There does seem to be more people that we're seeing sleeping rough, and we know that that's only the tip of the iceberg," she said.

"And I would say, 'how could it be any other way?'

"The sums don't add up. If you're in Melbourne, the average rent is $400 a week and if you're on the lowest of incomes, Centrelink, you're going to have around $250 for everything.

"It's very clear that it's not the individual's fault."

She said it was not a question of figuring out the right response.

"Internationally and right around our country, permanent supportive housing has been shown to work for rough sleepers, so that's about making housing available to people that they can afford and also providing them with the support so that they can keep it," Ms Smith said.

"It's actually quite a very straightforward response that's required.

"We just don't seem to have been able to deliver it in our community in anything other than a pilot or trial way.

"It needs to be rolled out and taken to scale right around the country."

Treating the homeless with respect and dignity

The Salvation army cafe in Melbourne, which serves hundreds of people a day. ( ABC: Stephanie Anderson )

When the Salvation Army cafe opens at 8:30am, there is already a line waiting for breakfast and a hot drink.

The cafe usually serves breakfast to more than 100 people, while lunchtime service is typically more than 200.

Apart from the lack of cash registers it could be any other city cafe, and many of the diners are regular visitors.

"I really love it here, the staff are great," one person said.

"There should be more places like this around Melbourne."

Another praises the atmosphere and access to support staff.

"They're good people - have friends here," he said.

Mr Nottle said the outreach program and the cafe were about offering material comforts and access to support services.

"I think sometimes when we see homeless people we actually don't see a human being, we see a label on their forehead that says homeless or it says beggar," he said.

"What we're trying to do is peel that label off and actually see a human being and treat people like every human being wants to be treated, which is with respect and dignity."