The number of people on council waiting lists in the region has soared from 173,750 in 1997 to 270,070 a decade later – an increase of 55 per cent.

Housing charities and MPs fear the demand for homes to rent at affordable prices will grow as repossessions soar, unemployment rises and people struggle to meet food and heating bills.

The warnings comes as it emerged that council tenants could lose their right to a home for life under reforms being considered to cut waiting lists, with local authority homes provided with fixed-term contracts and regular reviews every few years.

Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland last night branded the waiting list figures a "damning indictment" of a decade of failed housing policy, while charity Shelter said the Government must ensure new homes it has promised are delivered.

Concerns over the shortage will be seized on by the Government as evidence of the need for its ambitious house-building drive at a time when construction has stalled and Ministers are under increasing pressure to abandon their pledge to build three million homes by 2020. Last week, two reports claimed the target was unrealistic.

"These figures are a source for real concern," said Mr Mulholland. "Such a large rise in the number of families waiting for a home is a damning indictment of the last 10 years of Labour's failure to provide enough affordable and council homes.

"In such difficult economic times the situation is likely to get worse not better."

Shelter's Yorkshire and Humberside regional campaign officer, Sharon Oakley, said: "There is a chronic shortage of affordable homes in Britain and, as household bills and unemployment rise, people are obviously worried about their prospects of finding a decent home for them and their families."

Ms Oakley said the Government's pledge to build more homes must be delivered, while Rotherham's Labour MP Denis MacShane has called for a suspension of the right-to-buy programme.

Yesterday, the Chartered Institute of Housing proposed ending tenants' right to a council home for life, with tenants whose financial circumstances improve being asked to move to the private sector, purchase part ownership of their home or pay higher rent.