Petition There is an urgent need for more housing. Use local authority reserves to fund joint purchasing existing stock

This is a petition to request government to use local authorities cash reserves to purchase existing "for sale" houses for either rental or shared ownership. Many of these properties are owned by people wishing to trade down. Using council reserves to buy, homes could quickly be made available preferably on a shared ownership basis. Sellers would receive fair market value based on asking price. Councils would have the advantage of an increasing asset base.employment would be created via maintenance etc. and an urgent problem would be resolved quickly.
Purchasing should be restricted to sub 250k, and Councils should be encouraged to make mortgages available.