Churches, community and service groups are working together to deliver the project modelled from a successful existing program in Canberra.

Compassionate Ballarat steering group member Dr Mary Hollick has been leader of the Safe Shelter project.

She said the coordinating committee hoped to have the project running by May, giving up to 13 homeless men a warm and safe place to sleep at night in inner city church buildings.

"People are finding themselves unexpectedly homeless in increasing numbers," Dr Hollick said.

"We are not trying to take the place of any other service but this will be for people who need a quick response of somewhere safe to sleep.

"Our welfare services are so overwhelmed they cannot respond to this particular need.

"We hope to be able to hold them from danger until the existing support services can find them some longer term accommodation."

Greta Christie from Ballarat Central Uniting Church first brought the idea for Safe Shelter to Ballarat after seeing it run successfully in Canberra where her sister lives.

She said two different faith churches there worked together to make their venues suitable for overnight stays, train volunteers and run the service.

"They have been very successful now for a number of years and I can't see why we can't do exactly the same here," Ms Christie said.

"The need is there. We are very anxious to fill that need."

Uniting Ballarat's Street 2 Home staff currently work with seven rough sleepers in City of Ballarat, six in Ararat and one in Golden Plains.

The service has used boosted funding since COVID-19 hit to put most of the region's rough sleepers in hotels and motels but this funding will end in March.

Dr Hollick said the Safe Shelter project would focus on providing a service for men as data from a 2018 study revealed 66 per cent of rough sleepers were men.

"We are very aware of the increasing issue for women and that may be something the city can address in the future," she said.

Ballarat Central Uniting Church and St Patrick's Cathedral Parish are currently working to make their venues compliant to have people stay overnight.

The set up will be simple, with rows of chairs to create a little bit of privacy and padded mats on the floor.

Dr Hollick said the steering group would decide what nights of the week were best to run the service with advice from welfare agencies.

People will be able to access the spaces from 7pm on Safe Shelter nights and will leave at 7am, with trained volunteers also staying the night.

"When people come in they claim their space by putting their belongings down and they get a cup of tea and a biscuit and have a chat," Dr Hollick said.

"This is about free, safe shelter, with no paperwork, no details taken, no payment required, just this offer of a peaceful and safe nights sleep.

"The guests will sign agreeing to the conditions of being quiet and allowing everybody else to rest. The volunteers will be trained and supported."

Meals will not be provided to guests, but they will be informed of existing services with breakfast available at Anglicare, lunch at Breezeway or Salvation Army and dinner at the Soup Bus.

Information about further supports will be provided.

"It is a compassionate response to a broken housing system," Dr Hollick said.

"This shouldn't be something a first world country has to do but we have a system that has made housing unaffordable and here we are."

Gerard Knobel from St Patrick's Cathedral Parish said the parish council was keen to support the project and help provide volunteers.

"We potentially struggle to have people come along to church or mass because they are not interested, but people I think are still really keen to help others," he said.

"This could be a way for them to give something to the community and help people in need of care.

"I think the approach across the churches is good for Ballarat and the community."

Lauleti Tu'inauvai from Ballarat Central Uniting Church said it was a valuable opportunity for different community groups to work as partners to address an issue.

"We have this space available during the week at night time," he said.

"To share this resource with the whole community is really great and to be able to work together.

"We cannot do it by ourselves, we know Uniting cannot do it by themselves. I think if we can put our resources together, this is an opportunity for us to all work together as partners."

Dr Hollick said there was a contingent of compassionate and dedicated people driving the project, but bureaucratic barriers to make the venues compliant were proving a challenge.

"We have been searching for a building inspector for about two months now," she said.

"We have a housing boom, they are too busy, so we are still searching. We are waiting on this barrier."

The Safe Shelter team are putting a call out for a building inspector who could visit the two church spaces and advise on compliance.

They will call for interested volunteers around February or March.