Hundreds attended a rally in Dublin today calling on the government to take action to fix the housing crisis.
New figures show that almost 11,400 people were staying in emergency accommodation last month.
Politicians and members of the community walked alongside members of trade unions and other representative groups.
This week, the Dáil voted to not declare the crisis an official 'emergency'.
Speaking ahead of the Green Party conference in Athlone this weekend, Catherine Martin TD said that despite the vote, the government is "in emergency mode" in dealing with the crisis.
20 years of renting
Minister Martin also said that there is no "quick fix" for the housing crisis and it is "disingenuous" to say there is.
However, it appears that hundreds of renters and prospective buyers at today's rally are not satisfied with the government's messaging.
One attendee, Ciaran Noonan, has been renting for 20 years as he can't afford to buy a house in the current market.
He told Newstalk: "I've probably spent in the region of €200,000 on rent."
"I'm a professional, so is my partner, and we're still finding it difficult to find a house."
"It's been going on too long and it's unsustainable and it looks like it's going to continue to get worse."
Mr Noonan believes that the government should be building more social housing.
Crowd of protestors at Parnell Square. Credit: Claire McNamara160,000 vacant homes
People Before Profit TD for Dublin South West Paul Murphy said that the government needs to stop spending money on developers and landlords and take direct action to create accommodation.
"There are at least 50,000 homes that have been vacant for six years or more", he said.
"In total there's about 160,000 that are vacant."
"If they're not used in six months, let's CPO [Compulsory Purchase Order] them and let's use them."
He also called for better rent controls "that actually bring rents down", as opposed to the current controls which he says hasn't prevented skyrocketing rents.
'Protecting landlords'
Another protestor, Syanne Conway, said "it's a very difficult time to be living in general".
"Our government have made it so clear that they don't have any care about people's rights to affordable, accessible housing."
She believes that the government is prioritising "protecting landlords".
Sinéad Brennan is currently looking for a two-bedroom flat - something she says is "so difficult" to find.
"The competition is crazy", she told Newstalk.
"I just don't think there's any monitoring of the rent standards in Dublin."
Main image shows protestors at the march near Leinster House. Picture by Claire McNamara.
