Fr Peter McVerry says opening emergency beds and hubs for homeless families is "an admission of failure".

He was speaking as the Peter McVerry Trust launches its 2016 annual report.

The homeless charity is urging the Government to deliver a more effective and urgent response to the homeless crisis.

It says the Government should switch its funding to more effective forms of responding to homelessness - such as Housing First - rather than continue to rely more and more emergency accommodation.

Fr Peter McVerry says: "It reveals a crisis that we're trying to respond to, but we're only a tiny little player in the ocean.

"We opened an extra 142 emergency beds last year, we'll be opening more emergency beds coming up to Christmas now.

"We're also running a number of hubs for homeless families - but that's all actually an admission of failure.

"Opening emergency beds is not a solution to homelessness, it's a solution to rough sleeping.

Fr Peter McVerry is pictured in January 2017 | Image: RollingNews.ie

"It gets people off the streets and therefore it makes homelessness less visible, and therefore it takes some of the pressure off Government.

"But emergency beds does not solve (the problem) - a person is still homeless when they're in an emergency bed".

"The solution to homelessness is to provide people with a home, and that's what's so frustrating.

"It feels like you're running up an escalator which is going in the opposite direction".

The charity's annual report shows 4,584 unique individuals were supported across its services in 2016, while 98 individuals exited homelessness into independent living.