Today marks exactly three years since the Government promised to end homelessness and the numbers sleeping rough continue to rise.

The homelessness policy statement was published three years ago and the CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust says that the situation in this country is only getting worse, and that there hasn't been enough focus on the crisis in the election campaign.

5,400 people were homeless at the end of last year, an increase of 1,500 people on 2014.

And Pat Doyle from the Trust says that these are new cases:

Doyle says that while many homeless suffer from addiction and mental health issues, the rise in rents and the lack of supply is also driving onto the streets:

"Last year, 38% of homeless people were new. That was the banks; that was the repossessions; that was the increase in rent and no increase to match in rent supplements".