People will soon have to live in Medway for two years before they can join the housing waiting list.

Councillors say it will stop people flooding in from other areas.

Currently people who have been in Medway for more than six months can join the waiting list for social housing.

But a staggering 17,736 people are now on it – of which almost 2,000 are classed as being in priority need.

Not everyone on the list has an urgent need, but it is still an explosion in numbers from fewer than 10,000 in 2009.

Cllr Tom Mason (Con) said: "The vast majority of residents in Medway will be pleased because it’s perhaps very galling if you are on the housing waiting list and your priority has been reduced by an influx of people from outside."

Housing chief Cllr Howard Doe (Con) added: "Our policy’s intended to fight dumping by other local authorities."

But Labour group leader Cllr Vince Maple said: "We’ve had some major concerns about this whole policy since the word go.

"You can skirt around the edges but the real issue is there aren’t enough houses in Medway."

Karen Hurley, chief executive of the homeless charity Medway Cyrenians, agreed with that assessment.

"The council are between a rock and a hard place," she said.

"It will have an impact on us because some clients will be wanting to join the social housing register in a shorter period. But then again, we work mostly with people from Medway anyway."

Cllr Griffiths has called for a cross-party working group to tackle the issue, but claims it is not due to start until Autumn 2014.

He said: "That’s better than nothing, but from my perspective doesn’t address the scale of this issue with sufficient urgency."

Cllr Doe said: "This is not a policy that’s set in stone. We will continue to monitor how it plays out with all the welfare changes that are going on."

The policy is due to come into force on August 1.