Cork's Simon Community says the housing crisis is stopping people from moving out of homelessness.
The organisation says the number of people sleeping rough on the streets of Cork for one night or more has risen by 54% in the first nine months of this year.
The group is today launching their Where Are They Now? report, which explores 'the barriers that prevent people from leaving homelessness behind them.' It is a follow up to a study carried out at Cork Simon's emergency shelter in early summer 2013.
It says 48% of people staying in the shelter last summer were still in the centre 12 months later.
The report finds that 18-34 year-olds and people who were long-term homeless were "much more likely" to still be in emergency accommodation.
The report concludes that a "chronic shortage of housing is the single biggest barrier preventing people from moving out of homelessness."
Cork Simon's Communications Manager Paul Sheehan says the lack of available housing needs to be addressed:
