Housing charity Threshold received an unprecedented number of calls in 2016.
Its annual report reveals that more than 71,000 calls were received by the charity in 2016, more than double the number received the previous year.
Threshold says a third of the calls were from people at risk of losing their home.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
"The unprecedented level of calls received by Threshold in 2016 is indicative of the financial and mental distress experienced by those living in the private rented sector, where there remains an acute shortage of supply," said Threshold chairperson Dr Aideen Hayden.
She said the country was in a state of crisis and not enough was being done in the area of prevention to "close the floodgates" on homelessness.
Dr Hayden said the money was not there to provide the level of social housing needed and said the Government needed to go to the EU to borrow it.
The charity wanted to see the establishment of a database of rents for incoming tenants to see what the previous tenants were paying.
