Homelessness and the housing crisis should be a main issue in government negotiations, the Simon Community has said.
Figures from the ESRI reveal that rents in Dublin are now higher than at the height of the boom in 2007.
The homeless charity called for the reopening of the debate on rent certainty as a survey compiled by Simon found that 95 per cent of rental accommodation in the Dublin area was above the limits for rent certainty and therefore unaffordable.
According to the ESRI survey the average rent in Dublin for an apartment is €1,300 and €1,400 for a house. There was a slight slow down in new tenancies in the last quarter in 2015 - 27,000, but this was attributed to a reluctance by people to move before Christmas.
The survey also indicated that 30 per cent of landlords have left the market while there are 25,000 new households entering the housing market every year “chasing a dwindling supply,” ESRI spokesman David Duffy told Newstalk Breakfast.
Simon Community spokeswoman Niamh Randall said that the slow provision of modular homes was “very, very disappointing”.
“There is a massive need out there for affordable homes. People are being pushed out of the rental market into homelessness. The Government urgently needs to intervene.
“If Nama can build 20,000 private houses, why can’t they build social housing,” she said.