Less than 1 per cent of low-cost private rented accommodation in the Dublin region is "available" to the homeless, a survey by housing charity Threshold has found.
In an effort to address the problem the charity will tomorrow launch an "Access Housing Unit" to help homeless people - particularly young, single men - access the private- rented sector.
In a survey of all available bed-sits - the cheapest form of private-rented accommodation - in the Dublin area last month the unit found that of the 160 advertised just 15 were both suitable and available, with just one actually secured for a unit client.
Mr Russell Chapman, manager of the unit, explained that of the 160 bed-sits available there were just 65 left when those with a rent in excess of the €115 per week limit for those in receipt of rent supplement, were disregarded.
"When we removed from the 65 those where the landlord would not accept rent supplement it came down to 21, then it came down to 15 when we removed the ones where there were shared bathrooms. Of those we got just one. That is some indication of just how difficult it is for homeless people to access private rented accommodation."
Single men were those who found it most difficult to access housing, he said, as local authorities were not generally building accommodation for single people.
The AHU works by getting referrals of potential tenants from other homeless service providers, including Focus Ireland, Dublin Simon Community and Merchant's Quay, he said.
"Only a tenant felt to be able to sustain rented accommodation and make the transition to independent living are taken on," said Mr Chapman. Potential tenants were interviewed and if accommodation found a key worker assigned to them to help them settle in, he added.
"There is a huge need for this type of service. We accommodated 80 tenants last year and I'd say that if there was a sufficient supply of accommodation we could have accommodated at least 50 per cent more than that."
Working with a number of accommodation-locating web-sites the unit is hoping to encourage more landlords to make their accommodation available to its clients.
Mr Chapman said there were often "negative feelings about people getting rent allowance". These included that the rent may not be paid or that the property might be damaged - feelings which he said were "generally unfounded" and which he hoped the unit could dispel.
A spokesman for Threshold said the AHU was necessary to help fill the gap left by the lack of long-term housing options, but added "private rented sector is no substitute for a viable social housing sector. The Government," he said, "must deliver more houses."
