The housing charity Threshold has urged the Government to "right the wrongs" done to people in a housing crisis over the last two Budgets.
Its pre-Budget submission has called for the reversal of last year's restrictions in rent supplement eligibility - one of the "savage 16" cuts introduced by Ms Coughlan when she was minister for social and family affairs.
Under the change, a person must be already renting private accommodation for six months before being eligible for the rent supplement.
The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr Brennan, has promised to rescind any cuts that have caused proven hardships.
Mr Patrick Burke, director of Threshold, said the restriction had made life intolerable "for people living in overcrowded conditions, people affected by relationship breakdown, women and children fleeing domestic violence and young people moving from rural to urban areas to seek employment".
Threshold has also called for the amount of rent supplement to be increased to reflect the cost of renting.
"Government restrictions have reduced the safety net of rent supplement to the size of a postage stamp," Mr Burke said.
The rule where people could not receive rent supplement if their spouse was working over 30 hours per week discouraged people from looking for work, especially low-paid work, he said.
These restrictions followed the introduction of maximum rent levels by health boards, above which rent supplement would be denied.
A survey conducted by Threshold in September found that the average cost of the most basic bedsit in Dublin was €121 but the rent supplement was only payable if the rent was under €115.
Mr Burke pointed out that it costs the State more to maintain someone in the homeless sector than to supplement their rent.
According to Threshold, large numbers of rent supplement recipients in Cork are paying "top ups" to landlords from their social welfare payments to keep their rented accommodation.
Threshold's pre-Budget submission has also called for 10,000 new social houses to be built next year.
The Government has committed itself to 40,100 additional local authority house starts by 2007 but Threshold warned that this would not be met on the basis of current output levels.
"A lack of progress on social housing has meant that waiting lists grow and grow. What do waiting lists mean when some people are told they will never be housed?" Mr Burke said.
