The Government should provide a 5 per cent increase in funding for services for homeless people in the budget, and should invest €2.5 billion in new social housing units over the coming year, according to the Simon Communities of Ireland.
Warning that the forthcoming budget represented the "final and critical chance" for the Government to meet its pledge to end long-term homelessness by 2010, the organisation's chief executive Patrick Burke said such an increase would allow for the maintenance of current measures to meet this aim.
Mr Burke, who launched his organisation's pre-budget forecast on homelessness in Dublin yesterday, said the 5 per cent increase in funding for homeless services which it was seeking would relate to €50 million which was allocated to such services through the Department of the Environment last year.
While arriving at a figure for the number of people who currently slept rough in Dublin was difficult, he said anywhere between 50 and 100 did so.
He also echoed concerns expressed by housing organisation Threshold recently about the impact of rising rent levels on vulnerable users.
At the same time, concerns over the strength of the economy have prompted Minister for Finance Brian Cowen to deliver a restrained outlook for expenditure across government departments in 2008.
"If restraint is exercised in funding programmes to end homelessness in the forthcoming budget, the target of ending homelessness by 2010 will collapse," Mr Burke said.
"If cuts are to be made, please make them elsewhere.
"Without sustained spending in programmes to tackle homelessness, there is a strong possibility that the numbers who are homeless will increase due to pressures at the lower end of the housing market, both in the rented and home-owner sectors."
As a result, Mr Burke said the organisation, which provides services to approximately 3,000 individuals each year, was calling on the Government to focus on three key areas.
They were, he said, measures to end long-term homelessness; the need to fill existing "gaps" in emergency accommodation services; and a significant increase in the supply of social housing.
Simon says 1,725 households currently live in unfit accommodation, 4,112 households live in overcrowded accommodation and there are 3,375 households which are involuntarily sharing.
However, Mr Burke pointed out that the Government had failed to meet its current target under the National Development Plan to provided 9,000 social housing units a year.
The number of such units delivered over the last two calendar years had been more than 5,000 fewer than the level deemed necessary, he said.
According to official figures, the number of people who are homeless stands at 2,500 nationally.
However, due to the different methods used by local authorities in arriving at this figure, the Simon Communities organisation believes the real number could be double this amount.