There are now 1,010 recently arrived asylum seekers without any State-provided shelter, the highest number on record.
Many are sleeping rough with scores of homeless International Protection Applicants sleeping in tents around the International Protection Office in Dublin city centre.
It comes as figures provided to RTÉ News by the Department of Integration show that as of 18 February, there were 2,151 vacant spaces in International Protection Accommodation.
A Department spokesperson said that "the largest part of this differential is accounted due to room configurations including differing family sizes often leaving unusable beds in allocated accommodation".
The spokesperson said: "Contractual issues with service providers will also leave potential beds unused pending the resolution of issues and the need to upgrade and renovate rooms.
"A significant portion of bed capacity is further accounted for through the need for maintenance or deep cleaning of rooms following moves and, ring-fenced beds to facilitate the opening and closing of accommodation centres."
It also confirmed that there are currently 2,801 vacant bed spaces available in accommodation contracted for displaced Ukrainians.
It similarly attributed these vacancies to often logistical reasons.
However, the spokesperson said that it is "working with providers where possible to pivot vacancies to use for International Protection applicants. Given that they are private providers, this is not always possible".
The State ceased offering accommodation to all new male International Protection Applicants on 4 December last year citing a "severe shortage".
Since then, 171 have been offered accommodation following a vulnerability triage, when they initially presented seeking International Protection.
A further 255 of those who were initially refused accommodation were subsequently offered a place, and most if not all of these were referred to the International Protection Accommodation Service by homeless or other services because they were rough sleeping.
The UN's Refugee Agency has described the Government's failure to address the issue of new asylum seekers being left homeless as "frustrating".
The head of its Dublin office Enda O'Neill said that "it's extremely concerning and the situation appears to be deteriorating week on week".
This month has seen a number of milestones in terms of the number of International Protection Applicants left without State-provided accommodation.
On Friday 9 February, the figure passed 800 for the first time, the following Friday it passed 900, and today, one week on, it has passed 1,000.
"What's frustrating is we haven't seen a response from the Government," Mr O'Neill said.
Speaking this afternoon, Minister for Integration Roderic O'Gorman described it as a ''really concerning situation".
''The focus in recent weeks has been to ensure we can provide accommodation for female and family applicants."
However, Mr O'Gorman said that the accommodation supply there was also "tight".
''A comprehensive strategy'' in terms of accommodation will be brought before the Cabinet in the next couple of weeks, he said.
Mr O'Gorman added that there is a recognition in the Government that the existing system needs to be reformed and a core of State-owned accommodation is required.
''In the short term there is a need to provide rapid accommodation for people who are arriving in Ireland and indeed for people who aren't being currently accommodated right now,'' Mr O'Gorman said.
Discussing Minister O'Gorman's plan UNHCR's Mr O'Neill said: "Unfortunately we've heard that message since last summer and frankly we are at a loss to explain why there haven't been any steps taken by the Govermnent."
"It's important to stress that this situation is manageable if the Government put the right policies and structures in place," Mr O'Neill said.
Following last year's arson attack on tents belonging to homeless asylum seekers on Sandwith Street in Dublin, Mr O'Neill said that there was a "real fear" that a similar incident could happen again.
"The situation is growing more tense every day" Mr O'Neill said "Increasingly we are hearing reports of assaults and of robberies, including an assault last week that left a man hospitalised...we're really beginning to see a situation where if action isn't taken quite a serious crisis could evolve."
Mr O'Neill said that Mr O’Gorman has said "repeatedly" that they need to "acquire or build" dedicated accommodation for asylum seekers, which he said represented good value for money for the taxpayer.
"We need to see decisive action very soon," Mr O'Neill said.
The Irish Refugee Council (IRC) has called for "urgent, all of government cooperation and coordination to address the unfolding crisis" and said "existing capacity should be used.".
Even before the latest occupancy figures were released, the IRC pointed to figures released on 24 January that there were around 2,500 vacancies in accommodation contracted for Ukrainian refugees.
"It is unacceptable that applicants for international protection should be forced to sleep rough while accommodation already paid for by the State lay vacant," an IRC statement said.
"The current policy of allowing suppliers to refuse to accommodate people based on nationality must be urgently addressed," it added.
Questions have been raised about why hundreds of bed spaces have gone unused at a rest centre in Stradbally, Co Laois that opened on 11 December for displaced Ukrainian new arrivals, one week after the Department ceased offering accommodation to International Protection Applicants.
Plans to open the site with a capacity to cater for up to 950 people, in heated en-suite cabins, were announced last October, but while the cabins have been built it has to date only catered for around 100 Ukrainians, with around 40 people on site last week.
Former County Councillor and local election candidate Pauline Flanagan said it was "shocking" that they were not in use.
She said: "Why are refugees being housed in much-needed tourist and local hotels throughout Ireland and why are there homeless people sleeping on the streets when there are over 800 beds empty in Laois?"
Ms Flanagan said she was given a tour of the site around a month ago and described it as a "safe, well-run, secure environment for refugees".
"I think it is disgraceful the way monies are being mismanaged by the Department of Integration. How much is this facility that is essentially not being used, costing us, the taxpayer?" Ms Flanagan said.
The site has been identified as one of the first new designated accommodation centres for Ukrainian refugees, under a new system set to come into force in the coming weeks.
Additional reporting: Dimitri O'Donnell
