People from Dublin on the social housing waiting list may be offered a grant to relocate to rural Ireland.
Dublin City Council voted in favour of reintroducing the Rural Resettlement Programme in a bid to tackle the homelessness crisis.
The scheme was suspended in 2012 but previously helped 800 families move outside the capital.
Dublin City Councillor Éilis Ryan explains how the scheme operates: "There was a system in place where if someone chose to move from Dublin down to the country then they would receive a small amount of financial assistance from the Government in light of the fact that over-population in Dublin is a problem.
"So that was suspended some time ago and the motion that was passed essentially asks for that to be restarted."
Cllr Ryan believes that it will help to create more urban centres outside of the capital.
"We need more urban centres, so places like Sligo, Letterkenny, Clifton for example - areas where there is already a settlement of people, where there is already a lot of infrastructure."
