The national housing organisation, Threshold, has launched a new service to help homeless people to rent accommodation in the private sector.
Threshold says four out of every five homeless people are single.
The organisation says single men in particular have the greatest difficulty in accessing local authority housing. It says the only option open to the majority of these men is private rented accommodation.
The Access Housing Unit, which was launched this morning, will act by matching suitable landlords with suitable tenants.
The unit will interview potential tenants from other homeless service providers, including Focus Ireland, Dublin Simon Community and Merchant's Quay Ireland.
It will only recommend those it believes will be able to cope in their own place and will ensure that their rents are paid.
The unit has been operating as a pilot scheme since June 2002. Last year, it helped 127 people to move away from homelessness, including 57 single people and 40 children.
