The Bank of Melbourne has apologised for any offence caused by a notice directing customers away from a branch used by an "inconsiderate" homeless person as "a place to live and litter".

A photo of the sign stuck to the front window of the Footscray branch was posted to the bank's Facebook page by local Gemma Cafarella.

"You refer to an 'inconsiderate' person who has been so selfish as to be homeless. WOW," she wrote.

"To think that the biggest victim in the scenario described in the sign is the bank demonstrates a fairly startling disconnect between your bank and the struggles of people who are experiencing disadvantage. You are out of touch."

A spokesman for the Bank of Melbourne responded by thanking Ms Cafarella for bringing the sign to his attention.

"Furthermore we apologise for any offence taken as this was certainly not our intention," the spokesman said.

"We will be addressing this directly with the branch manager, and will have this removed as soon as possible. Lastly we do want to ensure that we are delivering to our community the level of service you expect."

But Ms Cafarella was not satisfied with the response.

"Taking down the sign won't address the horrible attitudes behind it. What are you doing about those?" she wrote.

More than 22,000 people in Victoria are currently experiencing homelessness, with 5 per cent of those sleeping rough each night, according to Homelessness Australia.

The factors driving homelessness in Victoria. ( Supplied: Homelessness Australia )

The number of people sleeping in Melbourne's streets and parks has spiked to about 250, prompting a recent funding boost from the State Government that aimed to get people into beds.

Around one-third of homelessness is linked to family violence, with financial difficulties, mental and physical health issues and discrimination also driving homelessness rates.

Ms Cafarella's post, which has been viewed thousands of times, divided social media users.

"I am one of your customers. How you resolve this situation and more importantly, how you rectify your treatment of this homeless person WILL directly impact my decision to stay with you or not," one user wrote.

"I know banks aren't compassionate institutions, but this is too much."

Another said it was a "life and death" situation.

"Have you even noticed how cold it's been getting the last few weeks in Melbourne? Could you imagine sleeping rough in a park or under a bridge by the Maribyrnong these cold nights?" the user wrote.

But others said the bank had not done anything wrong.

"Are you really criticising a bank for not allowing their banks to be used as homeless shelters?" one user wrote.

"I mean my house isn't a homeless shelter either, and if a homeless person decided to start camping out in my living room I'd have to insist they not do that.

"That's not me having a problem with them being homeless, that's me having a problem with them deciding to move into my living room."

Others noted the bank is a sponsor of Melbourne City Mission's upcoming Sleep at the G event, which raises money to support youth homelessness, and accused the bank of hypocrisy.

In a statement to the ABC, Melbourne City Mission said it was aware that the signage has been removed, and that Bank of Melbourne has published a statement of apology.

"Melbourne City Mission commends the Bank of Melbourne for its swift response," it said.