More than 10,000 people are homeless for the fifth month in a row, it emerged on Wednesday.
The shocking figures include almost 3,700 children who have no place to call home.
The June tally found there was 10,172 people, made up of 6,497 adults and 3,675 children, living in emergency accommodation.
The latest poll is a slight 81 person fall in the number of homeless people compared to May, but it is the fifth consecutive month the disturbing tally has topped 10,000.
A significant 1,686 families were listed as being homeless in June -a slight reduction of 14 compared to 700 families in May.
In a tweet after the latest report, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, who tried to defend the figures, said: “This is the third month in a row that the number of children in emergency accommodation has fallen.
"The number of families and children in emergency accommodation is now lower than this time last year.
“But there is still a lot more work to do and we will provide 10,000 new social homes this year.”
However, there was scathing criticism from opposition parties and homeless charities.
Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said: “The June homeless figures released by the Department of Housing indicates that the number of people living in state- funded emergency accommodation was 10,172.
“This figure includes 3,675 children.
“The slight drop of 81 people on the previous month is welcome, however it is still 10,172 people too many living in hotels, B&Bs and family hubs.
“This is the fifth month in a row that the total number of people officially classified as homeless by the Department of Housing has been over 10,000. This shows once again that the government’s response to the homeless crisis is failing.
“We support Focus Ireland’s call for the government to urgently review its policies aimed at tackling the homelessness crisis.”
Founder of Feed Our Homeless Charity Tony Walsh said: “These latest figures are totally unacceptable.
“There are being a slight reduction in the numbers of people desperately waiting on a place to call home, but it's very clear to see our housing minister and his Government are not doing enough to tackle the current housing and homeless crisis.
“We do recognise the work being carried out by the housing minister but it's simply not enough.
“The housing minister and his Government must stay focused on tackling the crisis.
"The state must build public and affordable housing on a bigger and faster scale than currently being built.
“The real homeless figures are much higher than recently stated 10,172 which was the overall official count.
“These figures do not include rough sleepers in parks around the city also families in women’s shelters and people couch surfing who are also not in the overall official homeless figures.
“The housing and homeless crisis will continue to get a lot worse unless our housing minister and the current Government start to tackle this crisis head on .
"We must start reducing the numbers of people and families on the social housing waiting list a lot faster.
“The only way we will reduce these numbers is to build on a bigger and faster scale.”
