President Michael D Higgins has described the current housing shortage problem as a crisis.
Mr Higgins said there is a real and urgent need for more public rental accommodation to meet demand.
He made his comments as he met homeless families at a Focus Ireland centre.
Focus Ireland has said the number of families left homeless in Dublin has increased considerably in the last year.
The charity said 40 homeless families sought its help last month, double the figure for the same month last year.
The Director of Advocacy at Focus Ireland said the Government and the Central Bank need to wake up to the fact that closing down on buy-to-let landlords is not a victimless activity.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mike Allen said there were huge social consequences to this activity and legislation needs to be brought in to protect tenants in these cases.
Mr Allen said the rent supplement should be increased and it was absolutely necessary to start building an adequate supply of social housing.
Unless there was at least €500m in the upcoming Budget to start major building of social housing, Ireland would continue to see appalling problems of homelessness, he said.
