The Simon Communities say there's been a 33% increase in those availing of its services. 

That's 11,000 people, almost 1,500 families and almost 3,000 children.

That's according to their latest annual report which is being launched today.

Nicole Gernon reports:

The Simon Community annual report shows the charity helped 11-thousand people with housing issues in 2016

That's an increase of 30 per cent on 2015.

1,150 people accessed Simon Community emergency accommodation, while 4,547 people accessed prevention and advice services.

The charity has been working with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission to ensure people can be heard before the courts if necessary and the Commission is also working on developing a key piece of research on discrimination people face when trying to access housing.

There's also been an increase of about 10 per cent in people accessing the charities special treatment and support services.

The charity says more needs to be done so we don't see a continued rise in homelessness in 2018.

It says as well as emergency accommodation, we need to see more social housing built, more rapid builds and vacant properties brought back into use.

With additional reporting by Nicole Gernon