It would take one in four local authorities more than 10 years to house everyone on their social housing waiting list, research has claimed.
Housing charity Shelter said it would take between 10 and 33 years for 82 local authorities in England to clear their housing waiting lists at their current rate.
Around 1.8 million households are currently on waiting lists for social housing, but last year only 270,00 properties were let out to new tenants.
The group said Barnet in North West London had the longest housing waiting list, as it would take 33 years for it to find accommodation for everyone currently waiting.
It was followed by Redbridge in East London at more than 32 years and Brent at 25 years.
The group blamed the long waiting lists on what it described as the "severe shortage" of affordable homes in England, and it called on all the political parties to make housing a top election priority.
Caroline Davey, Shelter's deputy director of policy and campaigns, said: "The figures clearly show the desperate lack of affordable housing throughout England, and how we are simply not building enough homes to meet the growing demand.
"The news will be a major blow to hundreds of thousands of people who may have to spend this Christmas, and many more to come, in run-down or unaffordable housing, or possibly trapped in temporary or overcrowded accommodation."
London has the longest social housing waiting lists, as it would take 51% of boroughs in the capital more than 10 years to house everybody on their list at their current rate, followed by the South West where 40% of local authorities would take at least a decade.
At the other end of the scale, waiting times are shortest in Wyre in Lancashire at just three months, followed by Burnley, also in Lancashire, at five months and Sunderland at just over a year.
