83% of rental properties in Ireland are beyond the reach of rent supplement payments according to a new report.

The research from the Simon Community shows just 17% of all homes available on the rental market are within the Rent Scheme and Housing Assistance Payments limits.

It comes as the number of people in emergency accommodation reaches over 7,000 for the first time on record.

Spokesperson Niamh Randall, says rising rents are putting more people at risk of homelessness: “What we found is that the gap between the market rents and these HAP limits and rent supplement limits is actually growing.

“So 83% of the properties that were available to rent in the study period were unavailable to those in receipt of Housing Assistance Payments.

“So that is a really worrying trend, what we also noted was a 44% drop in the overall rental supply since we first undertook this study in May 2015.”