The Housing Commission has called for a stand-alone Social Housing Act, to protect the sector and prevent privatisation.
The expert body also finds that social housing supports, such as the Housing Assistant Payment, can inadvertently amplify rent inflation.
It calls for barriers affecting the delivery of social housing to be removed, by reforming funding approval and procurement procedures.
The commission’s full report, seen by RTÉ News, is due to be published this week and and extends to over 200 pages in length.
Among its findings is that housing affordability is most difficult for first-time-buyers in the counties of Dublin, Wicklow and Kerry, based on median incomes and house prices.
It says housing affordability schemes should be carefully calibrated to reflect factors such as income distribution and regional price differences.
However, it says there is no evidence that a more generous Help-to-Buy scheme for first time buyers would have an inflationary impact.
The commissions 83 recommendations were the subject of Dáil debate yesterday.
Among its main findings was that Ireland has an underlying housing deficit of up to 256,000 homes.
It is expected that the Housing Commission’s full report will be officially published by Government this week.
