It makes no sense for the government to allow people to become homeless.
That is according to People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, who last year co-sponsored an anti-homelessness bill that has since "withered on the vine".
He joined On The Record to discuss the record numbers of people homeless and what can be down about it.
"Obviously the government should progress that [bill] ... that's an absolute minimum", he said.
"At any time, it makes very little sense to allow people to become homeless because you're just making the situation worse, you're putting an additional burden on the State's resources."
Quick wins
New figures show that almost 11,400 people were staying in emergency accommodation last month.
"I think anything that can put a break on what is an absolutely dire situation in terms of putting people into homeless accommodation is welcome", Mr Boyd Barrett said.
He believes there are some "quick wins" available to the State, "in terms of the private developments that are happening and are near completion".
"At the moment, we are only getting 10% of those developments for social housing."
He is calling on the State to increase this proportion, or even buying entire blocks of newly completed apartments.
"I just don't see the point in new stock that's being developed being rented out at prices nobody can afford."
Housing underspend
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that while a third of the housing budget wasn't spent, there is "no lack of political will" to end the housing crisis.
The year is "not over yet", he said, and more of the housing budget will be spent before the new year.
Wayne Stanley, Head of Policy and Communications with Simon Communities, said it is normal for there to be an "inflow of completions" at the end of the year, "but it's very hard to see how they'll make up the figures".
"Obviously I hope I'm wrong, but I can't see it."
Mr Boyd Barrett said this is part of the problem with relying on private developers to build public housing.
He believes the creation of a State construction company could be used to help rebuild local authority capacity.
Listen back to the full conversation here.
Main image shows People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett addressing the media. Picture by: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie
