Charity Focus Ireland is launching a campaign aimed at compelling local authorities to give priority to the "best interests of the child".
The initiative comes as the latest figures show that there are almost 3,500 children living in emergency accommodation across the country.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Director of Advocacy with Focus Ireland Mike Allen said Ireland had dealt better with housing issues in poorer times.
He called for the introduction of legislation that will compel local authorities to implement a series of checks to see what is in the best interests of a child facing homelessness.
Mr Allen said proper structures have never been put in place to reduce the harm that homelessness causes to children and family homelessness has always been treated as a "flash in the pan" situation that will go away.
"While we have children who are homeless, we should be doing a much, much better job at protecting them from the harm that causes," he added.
Mr Allen said the experience of homelessness is particularly traumatic for children.
There is still a lot of stigma attached to homelessness, he said, and this shame and stigma can lead to even deeper isolation and problems for children.
"There's the trauma of losing your home where you're comfortable, where you feel safe, where your toys and your friends are ... then the emergency accommodation may be a long way from your school. There may be no possibility for doing homework, you can't invite your friends around, you lose all that sort of social contact."
Currently local authorities work under legislation that was passed over 35 years ago, he explained, and this legislation makes no reference to children or the rights of the child.
"More and more we're seeing local authorities say to families : we've got no emergency accommodation. Go back to your brother or your sister or friend and stay with them and sleep on their sofa for the next while until you can sort yourself out. But no check is done as to whether that's safe or that's in the interest of the child.
"And equally we've got emergency accommodation which is far away from schools or where there's no homework facilities or so on."
Mr Allen said Focus Ireland would like the Housing Homeless Families Bill 2017 to be reintroduced.
He said it would be very simple to implement legislation that puts children's interests at the centre of any decision making process.
It will not solve all the problems, he acknowledged, but it would help and could be easily done.
Mr Allen admitted there are dangers associated with prioritising groups and said there must be a focus on the particular problems of vulnerable groups.
We need some sort of system whereby we don't trade off one group against another, he said.
"We don't need to pay off old people against children. It is possible for us to prioritise, collectively, everybody who is experiencing homelessness and make sure that we resolve resolve their issues and treat them in their best interests."
Unconscionable that homelessness among pensioners, children on the rise - Labour
It is unconscionable that homelessness among pensioners and children is on the rise, the Labour leader has told the Dáil.
Ivana Bacik put it to the Taoiseach that "your Government claims to care about homelessness but where is the evidence?"
Labour now wants the Government to change the law to ensure the best interests of a child are "paramount" when a family is faced with eviction.
The Taoiseach responded saying child homelessness was a stain on society and it was important that children who are without a home do not experience it for too long.
He said the Government would consider any good ideas but legislation was not always the answer.
The Taoiseach said too that a solution was needed in the case of pensioner Micheline Walsh, 78, who along with her husband is about to be evicted.
But Leo Varadkar defended the decision to end the evictions ban saying to do otherwise would only have been kicking the can down the road.
