Businesses to help staff access housing

In effort to attract and retain talent, Inside Housing can reveal that corporations are exploring measures ranging from negotiating private rented housing at preferred terms, through to developing property and becoming landlords. Professional services giant Deloitte is trialling an offer for its London staff with housing association Peabody which is providing preferential terms on a 30-home Build to Rent scheme in east London.

Deloitte has drawn up a shortlist of institutionally backed private rented schemes and in January it intends to broker similar deals with developers. The company is considering block-booking accommodation at scale to secure discounts, and is also examining using its balance sheet to be a signatory on the lease, or investing its pension scheme into developments.

Rival professional services firm Ernst & Young is also thought to be in talks with developers about securing lower paid graduates improved rental terms – as are law firms Berwin Leighton Paisner and Linklaters. Mayor Boris Johnson is also in talks with businesses about them funding affordable housing.

Property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle is also understood to be examining what offers it can make to graduates. Similarly, private rented sector (PRS) developers are thought to have also engaged companies including Glaxosmithkline and Sky in early-stage talks about providing managed rental accommodation to staff.

PRS developers have confirmed growing interest from major banks, accountancy firms and technology companies that compete for talent. Deloitte’s offer of help to its London-based staff comes just two months after it brokered a deal with Get Living London to secure rented accommodation for 80 graduates in its East Village scheme near Stratford, east London.

“We are not just offering to support graduates; we are also now trying to help staff,” said James Ferguson, partner at Deloitte. “We have a senior grade called a ‘senior manager’ who earns around £80,000 a year - and even they are struggling to get a deposit to buy a place.”

This trend follows a move last year when KPMG struck a deal with Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks to offer its staff preferential mortgage rates. In February, an interest-free loan scheme for rental deposits set up by Shelter and backed by the government was taken up by Starbucks and the Cooperative Bank.

Soaring house prices and rapid rent rises, combined with a shortage of affordable housing, has meant workers are being pushed further outside the capital.