Threshold, the national housing charity, has said greater provision of social housing is the key to taking thousands of families off the waiting lists for homes.
Speaking at the opening of Threshold's new national headquarters in Stoneybatter, Dublin, the organisation's chairperson, Ms Aideen Hayden, said there were currently 48,143 households on local authority waiting lists.
She said some 85 per cent of these households had an income of less than €15,000, so that home ownership was "not a realistic prospect".
She said the answer to the housing problem did not just lie in affordability, but in the provision of more social housing.
The Threshold centre was formally opened by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in whose Dublin Central constituency it is based. Threshold, a non-governmental body, provides support for people experiencing difficulty with their housing situation, including those who are homeless and those who are having legal difficulties.
Some 6,243 people have already been assisted at the Stoneybatter headquarters. This year is also the 25th anniversary of the founding of the organisation.
Mr Ahern said the service provided by Threshold was "invaluable" to the organisation's many clients. He outlined the Government's aims to modernise and develop the private rented sector "to meet a broad range of housing needs".
He said the Residential Tenancies Bill, currently being processed, would update the legal framework for the sector to provide added protection for tenants, especially in terms of security of tenure and rents.
The Taoiseach said that, like Threshold, the Government had set a "challenging agenda" in addressing the housing needs of the Irish population.
"While we may not always be in agreement about the most appropriate way to meet these challenges, I think we are in agreement as to the overall objective - to meet housing needs as appropriately and effectively as possible," he said.