There is no evidence that an eviction ban put in place last November has actually worked.
That's according to Financial Advisor and Analyst Karl Deeter, who was speaking as a decision on cost-of-living supports will be made in mid-February.
The eviction ban is set to end on April 1st.
Karl told Newstalk Breakfast homelessness has actually increased.
"There's not evidence that it's worked," he said.
"No one believes in an outright ban, so calling it that actually from the starting point is probably a mistake.
"Homelessness increased while it was in place; there's not a lot of evidence that it's worked, and there's a lot of victims to a policy like this."
'Decently-oiled machine'
Karl said everyone agrees that people going into homelessness "is bad" but "this ban is probably not the best way to approach it."
"The way to fix this isn't to say 'If I said you're sick I'd say go to a hospital, if you're homeless go to homeless services'.
"I wouldn't say 'If you're sick, go to a butcher' - this is a backward way of looking at the issue.
"We fund and have a really, decently-oiled machine for dealing with homelessness.
"We should make sure that that says in place".
'Victims of non-eviction'
He said there are other people to think about in all this.
"When we talk about the victims of evictions, there's victims of non-eviction, too," he said.
"You could have a young couple that are expecting a child, they've worked hard, they've saved, they're buying a house that's being sold by a landlord and someone is meant to have moved out.
"Now they're in a position where they can't actually move into the home to make their family form.
"You've got situations where a couple break up and now, in order to maintain their family - they may have owned a rental property - one of the parents needs to move in there, or there's domestic violence and they need to get away from it.
"We're not talking about them, and we're not talking about elderly people who have high rates of poverty, but might own a house, and the rental income is their thing."
'We need to protect people'
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said there will be a 'further tidal wave of evictions' if the ban is lifted.
"The main victims I'm interested in are the victims of eviction," he said.
"I don't believe there is a well-heeled machine dealing with homelessness, as Karl tells us.
"He should speak to some of the people who are in pretty horrendous emergency accommodation, speak to some of the kids who are spending a couple of years growing up in hotels and then in homeless accommodation.
"It's true that the medium to long-term answer here is the question of supply, but the Government hasn't taken action.
"It should have used the period of the winter ban to take action on the most immediate thing that could be done - to say 'Let's deal with the 50,000 vacant homes that have been vacant for six years or more... let's bring them into use'.
"That hasn't been done, so then we absolutely need to protect people.
"In Germany, in the Netherlands, in other European countries it's just the norm that you cannot evict someone as a result of selling a property," he added.
