A homeless charity is calling for 'urgent action' in the Budget to tackle the housing and homeless crisis.

The Simon Communities says next week's Budget is "an opportunity to ensure Ireland has secure social and affordable homes at the scale required".

In their pre-Budget submission, the group argues the Government must do things differently - adding that the most urgent priories are to prevent people from losing their homes, and for 'safe, secure and affordable' housing to be available.

A report from the charity has found that only 6% of rental properties in 11 areas studied in August were available for those in receipt of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) / rent supplement limits.

Their latest 'Locked Out of the Market' study, published today, was carried out across three days in mid-August, and found only 34 properties were available within the limits.

National Spokesperson for the Simon Communities, Niamh Randall, says rents must be kept affordable.

She argued: "Supply of homes within the rent supplement and HAP payment is decreasing each and every time we do this particular study.

"It's really important that we look at rent certainty, which means ensuring that rents are kept at an affordable rate.

"We have rent pressure zones: they haven't been working that effectively, so surely ensuring that we've got some sort of monitoring and enforcement will make sure that we can utilise this market intervention."

Saying that sufficient funding across all Government departments is needed to tackle the crisis, Ms Randall added: "People must not be left to wait any longer– we need urgent action now, they need urgent action now.’