Homelessness experts are pushing for the condition to be listed as an official cause of death, as murder, chronic illness and festering sores continue to claim the lives of some of Victoria's most vulnerable.

Without intervention, more than half of Melbourne's rough sleepers are likely to die within five years, according to a 2013 survey.

Desperate lives: Youth Projects chairwoman Melanie Raymond is calling for homelessness to be noted by the Coroner as a contributing cause of death. Credit:Pat Scala

Experts are now calling for records to be kept on sudden deaths in the homeless population, warning that the results could be ''grim''.

Since December, at least seven people known to the city's homeless workers have died, including a man in his 50s who developed a foot wound in a Fitzroy rooming house.