The number of people seeking support from homeless charity, Focus Ireland, has jumped by 18% in the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period last year.

According to the charity, the need to deliver better access to housing ‘is now more crucial than ever'.

Its figures show that it has supported 9,237 people so far this year who were already homeless or at risk of losing their home. During the same period last year, this figure was 7,819.

The charity also recorded a 43% increase in the number of people seeking advice on how to prevent them from losing their homes - 4,248 between January and October of this year compared to 2,973 in the same period last year.

According to Focus Ireland CEO, Joyce Loughnan, the charity is seeing more people ‘at serious risk' of losing their homes as a result of the impact of the recession. Furthermore, the number of families at risk of becoming homeless is ‘highly worrying'.

"In Dublin alone the number of families becoming homeless has recently doubled from eight to 16 every month. Most of these families were previously living in private rented accommodation. Prevention is cheaper than cure and we call for increased investment in housing advice services to help people at risk of homelessness deal with their problems before they lose their homes," Ms Loughnan said.

She made her comments at the charity's annual conference, Working to End Homelessness, which was held in Dublin. She explained that the conference is building on work ‘to develop new ways to deliver housing in a very difficult market, as housing shortages are acting to push up rents and the cost of housing'.

She noted that the charity has published a feasibility study which proposes a new approach to securing private rented accommodation for people moving out of homelessness.

"The Social Rental model, based on successful schemes in Belgium and Holland, would allow landlords to obtain a fair market rent and be confident that the property would be returned to them in good condition. Focus Ireland is already piloting such a scheme in Cork - with charity partners - and plans to start a new pilot in Dublin to improve access to housing for people," Ms Loughnan added.