Ireland is "paying a price" in the Government's temporary measures to tackle the housing crisis, it has been claimed.
Orla Hegarty, assistant professor of architecture at UCD, has warned that State policies are not sustainable and are costing people's mental and physical health.
Speaking at the Simon Communities of Ireland conference in Dublin, the architect and lecturer also said that the number of new-builds is "barely replacing" the current stock.
She said: "We have seen radical drop in standards over the years from Government level which we will feel for many years to come. They are building to suit the short term.
"Each small room can make about 1,000 euro a month... so it's about how to extract value out of a site and not value for the city.
"It's very inflexible for future-proofing."
Her comments come as recent figures show that the number of homeless children in Ireland has risen by 70 in a month.
Government figures show that 10,338 people were living in emergency accommodation in Ireland - 6,490 adults and 3,848 children.
This is an increase on July's figures, when a total of 10,275 people were registered in emergency accommodation.
She said that developers are turning to build-to-rent as it is so lucrative, but this is having a knock-on effect on first-time buyers as there are fewer properties available.
"We are spending a lot on temporary accommodation so it means you have to build twice," she added.
"We need to build permanent housing as well - temporary accommodation is considerably more expensive and is only delaying problem.
"We need to focus on future-proofed housing, not temporary housing. A number of buildings being built are not suitable for family housing.
"New builds are showing reduced standards, co-living and built-to-rent. This does not make economic sense.
"We are paying a price for all of these temporary measures of housing including hubs. We're paying in money loss, people's mental health, in their physical health, their wellbeing and people contributing to the community.
"This is not sustainable."
She also said there is a finite amount of resources to spend on housing, adding that "we are not shopping smartly" to solve the housing crisis.
She said that housing affordability is still the most important issue.
Vasileios Madouros, director of financial stability at the Central Bank of Ireland, said that the effects of the global bust are still being felt today.
Addressing the conference Mr Madouros, who monitors threats to financial stability, said: "The levels of Government debt are still very high while the effects of housing supply are still being felt today.
"The issues around housing and housing affordability are particularly complex, and they are topics that affect every single person but none moreso than the most vulnerable people in our society."
Defending Central Bank of Ireland's mortgage lending rules, Mr Madouros said that its guidelines have "safeguarded financial stability" as well as "strengthening the resilience" of lenders and borrowers.
He said that part of the solution to the housing crisis is sustainable level of supply, and not higher levels of debt.
Eoghan Murphy, Minister for Housing, acknowledged that rent is "too high", adding that his department is focusing on addressing homelessness.
He also said that existing rent measures are working to ease the situation but added that the improvement and broadening measures need to be prioritised.
