Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin says a constitutional right to housing wouldn't be a silver bullet to solve the housing crisis, but would be a 'valuable tool'.
He says the main solution is to build more houses, but a constitutional right would place extra pressure on governments to 'do the right thing'.
He was speaking after a study showed two-thirds of people want a right to housing enshrined in the Constitution.
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, who published the results, say it shows people are "continually concerned with the housing and homelessness crisis that we have here and they want to see that changed".
On this evening's The Hard Shoulder, Deputy Ó Broin said he supports such a constitutional change.
He said: "Nobody who argues for enshrining the right to housing is arguing it’s a silver bullet... that it's going to solve the problem in and of itself.
"But what they argue - and there's a considerable body of evidence to support this - is that inserting such social and economic rights into the Constitution, it places an additional obligation on the Government to progressively realise over a period of time that right - particularly where it's being denied."
The Sinn Féin TD said it would still be up to the Government to decide on housing policy to realise the right.
However, he stressed nobody is claiming it will result in more houses being build 'today, tomorrow or the day after'.
He explained: "Particularly when we have governments who are slow to take the appropriate type of policy action... this would act as an initial point of pressure.
"It's for governments to realise if they don't do the right thing, court action could be taken."
'Build more houses'
Also speaking on the show, Karl Deeter of the Irish Mortgage Brokers Association said he 'doesn't really' think housing should be a constitutional right.
He argued: "I think we should build more houses, and I don't think we should have homeless people.
"But I think you'd need to be really naive to believe putting something in the Constitution is going to change that or deliver housing.
"You can only begin to imagine the fiasco that would pursue if a person said you denied them their constitutional right to a house."
He said there are already protections with the Constitution pledging State protection for individuals and families, as well as various international treaties.
He suggested he sees the debate in Ireland as more of a "charade" which comes up every few years, and that having it in place wouldn't lead to the house building that is needed.
