A flagship key worker housing project in Aberdeen has failed to let nearly half the available flats.
Two years ago, the city council transformed a sheltered housing complex into flats in an attempt to attract police officers, nurses, teachers and university staff to fill some of the region’s many vacancies.
Officials hoped that by offering affordable accommodation, the key posts – which are proving difficult to fill due to the higher cost of living in Aberdeen – would finally be filled.
But 21 of the 57 available flats in Smithfield Court, Middlefield, are lying empty.
Police Scotland and Aberdeen University have both already said they will not renew the lease on their allocation of flats.
Now the council is being asked to rethink the use of the 10-storey block – and let it out to people on the standard housing waiting list at an even lower rate.
The key workers were being charged £100 a week, but council tenants would be asked for £70 – or £75 for a two-bed.
Last night, opposition councillor Martin Greig suggested the rent price could be to blame for the low uptake, and said the authority needed to do more to bring people to the Granite City. He said: “Smithfield Court offered an excellent opportunity for trying to give a hand up to the kind of employees that we need in the city.
“The council needs to make a far greater effort to make affordable housing available for key workers.”
But council co-leader Jenny Laing suggested the oil and gas downturn – which itself has resulted in many people moving away from the city, causing vacancies across an array of professions – has played a part in the scheme’s lack of success.
“I think we have seen with the downturn in oil and gas that rents have fallen in Aberdeen in the last few years and have become more affordable,” she said.
“So it does make sense for the council to let out these properties to others waiting on the list rather than let them lie empty.
“I’m not sure whether the location did play that big an impact, but that said people moving to new places often want to be in the centre and that is certainly something we want to encourage as a council.”
A report into Smithfield Court in 2015 listed the average rental price in the city at around £690 a month for a one bedroom. The Scottish average at the time was £472.
The new report rules out bringing the building back as sheltered housing as the £492,800 price tag is considered “cost prohibitive”.
The council’s SNP housing spokeswoman Jackie Dunbar said: “Unfortunately the plan hasn’t worked out and I think that was down to a combination of location and the local housing market.
“I have had assurances that key workers will continue to receive priority for these flats but it’s not feasible or fair to have all of these homes sitting empty when there are people waiting for council housing.”
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