The director of the Homeless Agency has said eliminating homelessness by 2010 remains its ultimate goal.
Ms Mary Higgins said the agency's action plan for 2004-2006, which is currently being finalised, will reflect a significant shift in policy.
Ms Higgins said that three years ago, 57 per cent of homeless people had nothing to do but walk the streets.
Before 2001 young drug users slept rough as hostels would not allow them in.
Since then, however, an additional 900 emergency beds had been provided in 12 emergency hostels for single men, she said.
Three emergency hostels had also been provided for women and children, two refuges for women fleeing domestic violence and one hostel for families
A further 300 transitional accommodation units, providing support programmes which help people live independently, had been provided with a new information system to support integrated delivery of services and to track people through the system.
Ms Higgins said these measures helped stabilise homelessness figures between 1999 and 2002, according to ESRI figures, while the number of people sleeping rough has also been reduced.
Almost 1,500 homeless people have been housed through local authorities and voluntary bodies with significant improvements in the quality of services provided.
Meanwhile, funding for voluntary bodies in the sector has gone up from €8 million in 2000 to €24 this year.
The Homeless Agency is responsible for the planning, co-ordination and delivery of quality services to people who are homeless in the Dublin area.
The agency relies on a range of voluntary and statutory groups working in partnership to deliver integrated services to people who are homeless, and assist them to move to more long-term housing.
