This compares to an average rise in homelessness of 13.1 per cent predicted across Victoria.

The report commissioned by housing campaign Everybody's Home predicts the end of JobKeeper and the reduction of JobSeeker to its pre-COVID rate of $40 will push more people into financial distress.

The report predicts 33.9 per cent more families in Ballarat will experience housing stress by June 2021, compared to February 2020.

Housing stress is when people spend too much of their income on housing, causing not to have enough money for essentials like food medical costs or utility bills.

Ballarat Federal MP Catherine King said Labor had been calling on the federal government to fund the construction of more social housing.

Social housing investment was missing from this year's federal budget.

The Victorian government announced $5.3 billion for social housing construction, including $80 million for Ballarat in its budget.

Ms King said investment in social housing would be a 'win-win' for the federal government.

"It would help with the economic fallout of COVID-19 and put a roof over the head of vulnerable Australians who desperately need it," she said.

"State governments are doing some important work here. But we also need national leadership.

"The Prime Minister should make homelessness a priority for the National Cabinet."

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Uniting Ballarat senior manager housing and homelessness Warrick Davidson said if the report modelling came true in Ballarat, Uniting would struggle to keep up with demand.

"I can see there are already a lot of people who are struggling now with the reduction in the extra COVID allowance and JobKeeper," he said.

"People have been struggling to get by they are going to be potentially on the borderline of falling into homelessness."

Mr Davidson said the government was also planning to cut back the extra funding it had provided to services like Uniting to fund people to stay in motels and hotels as crisis accommodation during the pandemic.

"Without some significant support coming through we are going to struggle to maintain people in emergency accommodation," he said.

"Let's hope we don't get to that point and we are able to advocate strongly for other resources."

There were 150,000 people on the social housing waiting list in Australia before the coronavirus pandemic.

The Everybody's Home report by Equity Economics estimates 30,000 new social housing units would reduce the number of Australians experiencing homelessness by about 4500 per year.

It is predicted this would save $135 million in direct homelessness support costs.

"The COVID-19 pandemic response has shown that, with the right motivation, government can move quickly to address homelessness and housing insecurity and put in place policies to stop evictions in the short term, keeping people off the streets," the report says.

"The federal government's income support packages lifted over two million people out of poverty, removing one of the biggest risk factors for becoming homeless.

"An opportunity exists for government to invest in social housing and reduce the prevalence of homelessness in Australia and to also help drive the economic recovery through supporting employment in the residential construction sector."