The housing and homeless charity Focus Ireland has launched a five-point plan which aims to tackle the housing and homeless crisis.
The plan, which it says must be included in the next programme for government, includes calling for a firm target date for ending family homelessness, and also a commitment to build 40,000 social homes over the next five years.
A call for a referendum to be held on the 'right to a home' early in the term of the next government is included in the plan.
It also includes the need for a target date to achieve ending long-term homelessness and the need to sleep rough. The charity also calls for an end to youth homelessness.
The charity said the latest official figures show there were 884 families in emergency homeless accommodation in Ireland in January, including a total of 1,830 children.
Focus Ireland Director of Advocacy Mike Allen said: "The hardest hit under this housing crisis are those forced out of their homes - with a record number of more than 5,500 people now without a place to call home. Shockingly one in every three people who is homeless is a child."
