Bendigo Street in Collingwood has been a "ghost street" for the past 18 months. That was, until squatters moved in.

Rows of vacant houses have been home to nothing more than dust and cobwebs since the Victorian Government acquired 17 properties. They were supposed to be demolished to make way for a sound barrier for the now defunct East West link.

But those empty homes came to life again on Wednesday morning.

Occupiers are staging a sit in, as part of an organised protest against the waste of much needed inner-city housing.

About 50 homeless people and members of the Homeless Persons Union Victoria are protesting at several of the empty homes that are now publicly owned. They have moved into the street, bringing couches, gas cooking burners and placards with them.