Proposed cuts in rent allowance supplements and welfare payments will force 60,000 households into poverty, the housing organisation Threshold has claimed.
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Under the proposed changes, announced yesterday by the Minister for Social & Family Affairs, Ms Coughlan, applicants for rent allowance must be renting for at least six months before they can apply for the allowance.
The organisation claims that rent allowance represents the only safety net for large numbers of people, in particular lone parents and single people in unemployment, on the brink of homelessness.
"There are over 60,000 recipients of rent supplement in this country and they are not renting at the bottom end of the sector through choice," Threshold director, Mr Patrick Burke said.
"This change will mean that people who need to access rented accommodation as a result of a family or marriage break up, losing a job or those experiencing social or personal difficulties are now out on a limb with no support at their most urgent time of need.
"With no resources of their own they will end up trapped in social and economic poverty becoming more of a burden on the State in the long run, eventually becoming excluded from society," he added.
Earlier, a lone parents' action group claimed that the new measures will force thousands of lone parents into emergency accommodation.
Responding to details of the Government spending estimates for next year, national lone parents' group OPEN (One Parent Exchange and Network) claimed that changes affecting the rent allowance provision could force parents in emergency bed and breakfast accommodation.
OPEN claim the financial impact of such changes will make it impossible for many lone parents to rent, forcing them into emergency accommodation.
The organisation also criticised the Minister's decision to withdraw the right to claim half of the One Parent Family Payment for a year, after the individual starts to earn more than ?293 a week.
The issue of the funding of housing was also raised by SIPTU in their response to the spending estimates. The organisation claims that a "a significant cut-back" in real terms.
"With 109,000 people already on the housing list, the already overburdened local authorities will be completely overwhelmed in trying to address this problem," the organisation stated.
Of the 109,000 on housing lists, 47,000 are estimated to be lone parents.
The Minister, Ms Coughlan, this morning responded to criticism of the cuts, stating that they were a financial necessity.
Fine Gael branded the cutbacks as 'savage', with spokesperson Mr Michael Ring TD hailing the Minister's announcement as an "all-out assault on the poor".
Meanwhile, Labour challenged the Minister for the Environment to justify the figures outlined yesterday in relation to housing.
"There was no increase in the annual estimate for the Department of the Environment, yet Minister Cullen has claimed that the estimates will result in 500 additional houses in 2004. I call on the Minister to give a clear answer to this," spokesman Mr Eamon Gilmore TD, said.
Earlier, third level representatives claimed that their sector was subject to an effective €55 million cut in funding.
"No provision has been made for benchmarking or other pay increase costs. The effect is the equivalent of a €55 million cut in recurrent funding," the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU) stated.
The organisation also claimed that a €20 million capital funding provision for 2004 was insufficient to meet basic core requirements.
"The Minister's proposal to increase the so-called registration fee by €80 to €750 is an empty gesture in light of the estimated €830 increase required to meet the funding shortfall for 2004," it added.