Changes to the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) are simply 'tinkering around the edges' of a wider problem.
That's according to Sinn Fein's housing spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin.
He was responding to changes to the scheme, which will see local authorities allowed to increase the HAP discretionary payment by 35% - while the rate in Dublin will remain the same at 50%.
The couples rate will now be expanded to include single people.
However Deputy Ó Broin told The Hard Shoulder he does not believe the changes will have a significant impact.
"The problem is, of course, the gap between HAP rates and market rent is just huge.
"In Dublin there is already a 50% uplift - so if you're in emergency accommodation, or you're imminently at-risk of becoming homeless, Dublin City Council and the three county councils can provide a 50% uplift on the base HAP rate.
"The problem up till now has been outside of Dublin, local authorities only had a 20% uplift.
"Many of us have argued for a long time that people outside of Dublin should have exactly the same support as inside of Dublin.
"Why [Housing Minister] Darragh O'Brien has gone from 20% to 35% I don't know - it's not going to make a wild lot of difference on the HAP rates."
He says the real changes need to be in social housing.
"It's kind of tinkering around the edges, and it's not really dealing with the fundamental problem - which is there are too many people who are stuck in short-term, insecure, expensive HAP tenancies because Government is not delivering enough social housing.
"Really what we need to hear from Government is what is their plan to reduce that number of households... by dramatically ramping up social housing expenditure."
But he believes some people will be helped.
"The changes, particularly for single people - where there'll now be eligible for the couple rate of HAP... in some local authorities that will make a difference.
"But in other areas the difference is so small, it's really not going to make much of an impact".
Additional reporting: Eamonn Torsney
