Vic gov to spend $109 million for homeless

More housing for rough sleepers, the homeless, the young and veterans has been promised as the Victorian government spends big to help the state's most vulnerable.

Over the next five years $109 million will be poured into the effort.

The package announced on Saturday will help 19,000 people experiencing homelessness or at risk of it.

It includes building or improving 120 houses and providing accommodation for those with severe mental illnesses, women and children.

"It begins with getting people off the streets and into a home," Premier Daniel Andrews said on Saturday at the Labor State Conference .

A recent City of Melbourne survey said 247 people were sleeping rough in the CBD, up from 142 two years ago.

Mr Andrews said there are thousands more who aren't visible because they're sleeping in their cars, on friend's couches or in hostels, caravan parks and temporary accommodation.

About $10 million will go to help young people leaving state care to pay for board, housing subsidies and leases until they are 21.

Angilcare Victoria's chief executive Paul McDonald says the money doesn't go far enough.

"It falls well short of the most obvious, cost-effective and desperately needed measure for the children, which is extending support for foster care, kinship care or residential from the age of 18 to 21," Mr McDonald said.

The government has also promised to build a new crisis accommodation facility in Melbourne's west and 30 new homes for vulnerable women and children.

The Council to Homeless Persons welcomed the package, saying it will "not only see more rough sleepers housed but provide the holistic support needed to keep them housed".