The Director of Cork Simon has said more than 1,400 people accessed the charity's services last year, which is the highest number of contacts recorded to date.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Dermot Kavanagh said it represented an 18% increase on 2016 with people from all walks of life presenting as homeless.
Mr Kavanagh said there is a wide variety of reasons for people turning to them and it was becoming more difficult for people to exit homelessness, because it is much harder for people to find housing.
He said that last year there was a 10% rise in the number of people who were long term in their shelter.
He said traditionally people who became homeless for economic reasons could normally exit homelessness more quickly than those who might have had complex issues in their lives where there are problems with drugs or alcohol.
Mr Kavanagh said the number of women seeking their help had increased from around 10% to 20% over the past number of years.
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