Under plans due to be signed-off on by Cabinet today and to become law before Christmas, the Government will state that Cork and Dublin’s rental price rises are not sustainable and must be addressed due to the country’s growing homelessness crisis.

As a temporary measure, the cities will be designated ‘rent pressure zones’ once legislation is passed through the Dáil and Seanad before the Christmas break, severely limiting any future rent rises.

The proposal being put forward will hope to limit rent increases in Dublin and Cork to 4 per cent per annum.

The report also says that the central part of the plan will be to give those renting property “’rent predictability’ in areas that have seen rents rise rapidly”. This will be welcome news for students and young people living in these cities who are being priced out.

The Government rental plan is also expected to include fresh incentives for developers to build new, realistically priced rental property on State-owned land banks and to encourage local councils to fast-track thousands of currently vacant homes back into use.

While the plan will not become law until next week at the earliest, Government figures last night said the ‘pressure zone’ legislation will be enacted by Christmas meaning landlords — whose representatives previously said they will pull properties from the market if faced with fresh restrictions — will not have time to increase rents.