Ottawa families and individuals in the last year have become more reliant on homeless shelters as they look for affordable housing, according to an advocacy group's annual report.

The average stay at an emergency shelter was 57 days in 2009, up from 51 days a year earlier, said the report released Tuesday by the Alliance to End Homelessness.

The average family stay in a shelter was even longer, at 64 days.

Shelter beds were used 421,500 times in 2009, the group said.

Marion Wright, the chair of the group, said the city's response to homelessness and housing issues was "woefully inadequate."

The group said a lack of affordable housing was partly to blame for the overreliance on shelters. According to the their assement, only 88 new affordable housing units were built in 2009, while 235 households are on the social housing waiting list.