Focus Ireland says the homeless crisis must be a top priority for the next government.

It comes as figures from the charity show 134 families with 269 children became homeless in Dublin in January.

Most of these, 125 families, are classed as "newly" homeless.

Focus Ireland is calling on the next government to set a firm target date for ending family homelessness and a commitment to build 40,000 social homes over the next 5 years.

The number of families homeless in Dublin is almost three times more than in January 2015, when there were 54.