Mr McIntyre said homelessness had wider symptoms than housing

Figures released on Wednesday, show that there has been a slight decrease in the number of homeless people in Northern Ireland - from 8,549 to 8,470.

Chief executive Paddy McIntyre said the numbers forced from their homes as a result of intimidation fell by 34%.

The �1.6m package will bring the projected expenditure on homelessness in NI to �26m over the next year.

"Last year nearly three out of every five homeless households in Northern Ireland were permanently re-housed within six months," Mr McIntyre said.

"The Housing Executive placed 4,099 households in temporary accommodation last year, 400 less than the previous year.

"The number of cases where intimidation was the reason for homelessness in Northern Ireland was 447 last year, compared to 685 in the previous year - a fall of 34%."

We share a common objective - helping homeless people find somewhere to call home Paddy McIntyre Housing Executive

The statistics also revealed that family and relationship breakdown accounted for a third of all cases and remained the single biggest cause of homelessness.

Mr McIntyre said homelessness was a shared problem with wider symptoms than housing.

The Homelessness Strategy, published by the executive in 2002, enabled it to link with other organisations to address issues such as health, employment, relationship breakdown and services to children, he said.