Rental crisis and cost of groceries 'wrecking people', frontline workers say

An increasing number of working Australians are turning to charities and food services just to make ends meet.

As the cost-of-living crunch takes hold, Randa Beirouti, who runs Reaching Out in the inner-west of Melbourne, said the number of people asking for help doubled in the past eight months.

"People will say quite often if you weren't here, reaching out to us, we would actually be starving," she said.

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Footage captured by A Current Affair showed hundreds of people lined up in the Nicholson Street mall in Footscray as Beirouti's team of volunteers distributed meals and other essentials to locals.

Across the border in Sydney, former homeless man Rick Herrera, who now runs the SWAG Family charity, said he was struggling to keep up with the thousands of people reaching out every week.

He said the rental crisis and surging cost of groceries was "wrecking people".

"People keep coming from everywhere and unfortunately the numbers are not going down."

Watch the full video in the player above.