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I work for a rural council in North Derbyshire. The shortage of affordable homes in our area has become a serious issue and is reflected in a rising number of homeless presentations ("Kin and country" 6 June, page 18).

In common with a lot of rural authorities, the price of property here has increased significantly in the past few years. A terraced cottage now costs in the region of £100,000 in some areas – well beyond the reach of the first-time buyer. Average private-sector rents are in the range of £450 to £650 a month.

I am concerned that my children will not be able to afford either of these options and will either stay with me forever (God forbid!) or have to move to a cheaper area. Having said that, the cheaper areas have now also become almost unaffordable as demand has outstripped supply.

The outlook gets even bleaker when you consider the rate at which we are selling our housing stock. And most of the land in our borough is designated as greenbelt and what few sites do come onto the market are snapped up by private developers for four-bedroom houses to sell for £250,000 or more.

The government's response has been to introduce a number of peripheral measures that will hardly scratch the surface of the problem. Rural housing enablers, for instance, will not produce more homes if the land is not available to develop.

Here's an idea. The large pension and insurance companies who have invested their members' funds in the stock market (and had their fingers burned in recent years) must now be looking for safer havens for their money. If they were to purchase a number of properties in rural areas, they could allow the council or housing associations to manage this stock on their behalf. The rental income (at affordable rents) should be able to support the management and maintenance of the property and possible give a small return to the investors (just like a dividend). As a sweetener, the government would need to introduce some incentive to the financial institutions (such as relief from capital gains tax on resale of the property).

Everyone wins. The landlord increases its stock of affordable housing, the financial institutions have a safer haven for their money (investing in quality homes that have a track record of capital growth) and homeseekers have a greater supply of homes that they can afford.