Updated 08.00

A quarter of Irish adults are worried about being able to afford to keep a roof over their head.

Almost 20% are worried about losing their home.

The findings come from a survey of 2,000 people commissioned by the Simon Communities of Ireland.

The charity hopes the poll results will keep the housing issue at the top of the General Election agenda.

Simon Community spokesperson Niamh Randall says the depth of peoples' concerns surprised even them:

"Housing and homelessness is one of the major issues of the election campaign, so we are not surprised to see so many people are worried about house, but we were shocked at the extent of the concern around the issue.

One in five people are worried about losing their own home; 25% of people are really worried about being able to afford their housing costs."

Ms Randell spoke to Newstalk Breakfast earlier: