Focus Ireland has launched a postcard campaign calling for urgent action on homelessness.
The voluntary housing agency is calling for over 40,000 people to sign up. Focus claims the number represents the Local Authority and voluntary housing shortfall.
President of Focus Ireland Sr Stanislaus Kennedy today launched the campaign with a giant six-foot version of the card addressed to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, urging him to take action to tackle the Irish housing crisis and the problem of homelessness.
The card, entitled Housing crisis in Ireland - the figures just don't add up!states that there are over 45,000 households on Local Authority housing waiting lists while only 4,158 houses were provided last year between the Local Authority and the voluntary sector.
This leaves a housing shortfall of at least 40,842, according to Focus Ireland, while over 6,000 people are homeless and thousands more on waiting lists.
"Of course the waiting lists won’t be cleared instantly and we know there has been action taken recently to address the problems of housing and homelessness but the simple fact is the Government now needs to take more urgent action to ensure more houses and suitable emergency accommodation are produced to reduce homelessness and the housing waiting lists otherwise you may as well be whistling in the wind," said Mr Declan Jones, Chief Executive of Focus Ireland commenting on the launch of the campaign.