Edinburgh jobs at risk: Harbour Homes stops new developments and puts team at risk of redundancy
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Jobs are under threat at an Edinburgh housing association after it said it was stopping future developments because of rising costs.
Harbour Homes, formerly Port of Leith Housing Association, said it was impossible to make new projects financially viable and it was trying to find suitable alternative roles for its development team. But one employee said there was limited scope for redeployment. "There are six staff, four may go. Realistically, where could they be slotted in? Cleaners? Painters? Customer services? Most departments require qualifications and knowledge and we're all in different silos."
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Hide AdHarbour Homes is also considering a four-day week for other staff as part of a cost-cutting drive to limit rent rises. The employee said staff were unaware of the plan until they discovered it was mentioned in a letter about to go out to tenants. In January the housing association sought voluntary redundancies to keep rents down.
The halt on future developments was announced in an email to staff from group chief executive Heather Kiteley. She said: "Harbour Homes costs have continued to rise, although at a slower rate than in 2022/23, and this has been reflected in tender prices for new housing development. Rising costs, high interest rates, procurement issues and restrictions on our ability to increase rental income in line with inflation have made it impossible for future developments to" demonstrate financial viability when assessing them. The price of private finance has also risen significantly since we last approached the market.
"As a result of the ongoing impact of these challenges, we have taken the difficult decision to cease our development programme. This decision will unfortunately have an impact on the future of our development team. We are currently consulting with team members and working to find suitable alternative roles, where possible, elsewhere in the organisation."
A letter to consult tenants on rent levels for 2024/25 noted that last year's rent increase had been capped at three per cent but said "savings made have not eased pressure on our income and expenditure balance". The letter set out two options – increases of nine per cent or five per cent – saying both would allow a minimum level of improvements and upgrades, but the five per cent option would mean a reduced service to tenants. "One option that could be considered would be to implement a four-day working week for employees. This would mean that the office would be closed one day during the week."
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Hide AdThe employee said the letter had been due to go out last Monday, without staff knowing about the four-day week plan, but then an emergency meeting of staff representatives was called, Ms Kiteley sent an email to all staff and the tenants' letters went out later in the week. "Whether staff actually like the proposal of a four day week or not, it's the cloak and dagger way it was actioned that annoys people. After last time, the CEO did promise staff that we would not face further difficulties or redundancies, but we have been getting rather the opposite."
Harbour Homes currently has 3,092 properties and 108 employees. A spokeswoman for the housing association said it had been a difficult decision to pause the development programme. "As we do not know when external conditions will enable us to start again, we’ve been left with no choice but to advise colleagues in our development team that they are at risk of redundancy. We’re currently following a formal consultation with those involved which is exploring all possible alternatives to redundancy."
She denied that staff first learned about the four-day week option when they saw it in the letter to residents. "We advised colleagues about this possibility prior to mentioning it, as an example of a possible option, to tenants in our annual rent consultation. Should we decide that there is merit in investigating this option further, a full consultation process will take place. "