The minister made these comments in response to the most recent figures released by Focus Ireland, which reveal a sharp rise in the number of homeless families seeking help.
So far this year, 466 families have become homeless. That is almost as many as the whole of 2014.
Mr. Donohoe said that the Government has increased spending on social housing, but went on to admit that the scale of the problem is unacceptable.
“It’s not acceptable, at all,” he said.
“I have personally met families who are affected by this. We have put in place a large number of measures to look to respond to this.
“I mean, the amount of money we are now investing in housing, is up 40%, versus a year ago. It now stands at €800m.”