The Peter McVerry Trust supported more than 10,000 people dealing with homelessness last year.
Its annual report shows the charity worked with more than 10,000 people in 2021 - an increase of almost 30% on 2020 - across 28 local authority areas.
The charity follows a ‘housing first’ model meaning it fights homelessness by giving homeless people houses.
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Fr McVerry said: “The previous model was a “step-down” approach, which required homeless people with personal issues, such as addiction or mental health, to go somewhere, address those issues and then come back and seek housing.
“It was believed, at that time, that giving them a home, before they had addressed those issues, was a waste of time as they would not be able to sustain it.
“This model did not, and could not, succeed.
“How could a homeless person with an addiction problem deal with their addiction in a hostel full of drugs?
“How could a person with mental health issues deal with them while walking the streets all day with nowhere to go?”
McVerry said the model was “very successful”.
“Some 86 per cent of those homeless people, with the right level of support, continue to maintain their home indefinitely.”
Although the Peter McVerry Trust also provides almost 1,000 people with hostel accommodation every night, they remain homeless.
“The solution to homelessness is to provide people with a home,” McVerry said.
“In 2021, we were able to give 1,200 homeless people the key to their own door.”
Last year, the trust delivered nearly 200 new social homes, helped those in homelessness to self-isolate and supported over 1,500 vulnerable people to get vaccinated.
Around 8,000 people who were homeless or living in a communal direct provision centre were supported in self-isolating hotel accommodation.
On hostel accommodation, Fr McVerry said the range in services varies considerably.
“An area that requires radical overhaul is the provision of hostel accommodation for homeless people. While some hostels are of an excellent standard, and are in high demand, others are very poor.
“Sharing a room with several other people, usually strangers, some actively using drugs during the night, some with serious mental health problems, is unacceptable.
“Providing overcrowded and unsafe accommodation sends a message to homeless people, and the message is, ‘This is what society thinks you are worth,’ thus undermining their self-esteem and dignity.
The charity repeated its calls for the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) to be tasked with hostel inspection, similar to its responsibilities towards nursing homes.
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