Labour has hit out at the Government's decision not to accept the party's amendment to make 20% of affordable housing available for single income households sets a dangerous precedent.

Speaking after a debate on affordable housing, Labour housing spokesperson Rebecca Moynihan said the dysfunctional housing market has let down too many people.

She said: "Single income households are growing and deserve affordable housing. More than 400,000 people in Ireland live alone, yet every time the Government talk about housing it’s based on joint incomes. Government continues to set housing policy that is based on the assumption that people should aspire to couple up. They had an opportunity today to change their apporach but decided not to.

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"This is further evidenced by the Government's statement on regulating investors from buying whole estates of family homes in the suburbs as opposed to also applying it for apartment developments in cities. The boom in Build To Rent developments are also ignoring the needs of single people who want to buy in inner city neighbourhoods.

"This misguided policy approach is constricting and deprives single people of the opportunity to own their own home. No housing system, or indeed economy, should be trapping people into seeing marriage or relationships as economic leverage to buy a home."