A leading Irish charity says hundreds of families have became homeless so far this year and urgent help is needed.

Focus Ireland is launching a campaign today to raise funds for people without a home.

It follows campaigner Father Peter McVerry's calls for the Government to introduce rent controls or increase rent allowance to stop driving tenants into homelessness.

In the first ten months of this year, 800 children and their families lost their homes. In Dublin last month alone, 45 families became homeless.

Last week, new figures from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive showed that the number of families living in emergency accommodation in Dublin has more than doubled in the past year.

In late October, there were 1,101 people in families - 680 children and their 421 parents - in all types of emergency accommodation, marking the highest level since the housing crisis began.