As difficult jobs go, the chief executive of Dundee housing association Hillcrest must rank among the hardest.
You are responsible for more than 1,000 staff and almost 9,000 properties. Debt levels, running into the hundreds of millions, have to be managed. And you have to satisfy everyone from tenants, to banks, to the government.
Since Angela Linton became CEO in 2014, there have been a few challenging moments.
When faced with problems she has been guided by Hillcrest’s strong mission statement of “helping people live better lives”.
Under her watch the housing association has added almost 2,500 high quality homes – with several large developments in Dundee.
Angela, 59, says she is leaving the organisation in a healthy position. Her successor, former Dundee City Council leader John Alexander, joins the business next week.
Getting ahead of finance problems
Angela said the period following the Covid pandemic, when a rent freeze was introduced, was undoubtedly her most difficult as chief executive.
It became apparent that it was possible Hillcrest could breach its financial covenants (meeting certain financial conditions) with its lenders.
At one point the organisation’s debt soared to £400 million.
Angela said: “Up until the rent freeze announcement in 2022, we had dealt with the pandemic OK.
“We knew what rents we needed and were careful with our budgeting.
“In 2022, inflation was 12%, and we increased our rents by 4.5%. On top of that, we had the rise in interest rates.”
Dundee has seen the consequences of ignoring a looming economic challenge with what’s happened with Dundee University’s financial crisis.
Hoping for the best was not an approach that Angela took or would recommend. Communication and getting ahead of the problem was her preferred route.
She continued: “In 2023 and 2024, spoke to our lenders because there was a potential breach of our covenants.
“In the end we didn’t breach them, but we had to renegotiate so it didn’t cause us any problems.
“When faced with something like that, the logical part of my brain thinks, ‘what are we in control of? What can we change?’
“A decision we took was to sell off some lower quality stock that caused a lot of maintenance problems. That money was used to bolster up the rest of the organisation.
“Interest rates have started to drop, but the higher rates will continue to be a challenge, but a manageable one, for the next couple of years.”
More than 30 years in housing for Angela Linton
Angela, originally from Cellardyke in Fife, would never have imagined running a housing association while a pupil at Waid Academy.
After discovering accountancy in her third year, she thought her career would end as a partner in an accountancy firm.
For a while that seemed to be on track, with a Dundee University degree and a job with Dundee firm Bird Simpson.
A jump in salary attracted her to joined Hillcrest, for the first time, in 1991 as a finance officer. She hasn’t left the sector since.
After a promotion to senior accountant, she moved to be Gowrie Housing Association’s director of finance and administration in the late 1990s.
A merger of four housing associations in 2003 brought Gowrie under the Hillcrest banner and Angela became director of corporate services for the enlarged group.
She said: “At that point it was getting to be really difficult to develop new housing. The governance requirements were getting more and more challenging.
“The logic was that admin burden could be shared and together we could deliver better homes.
“Pulling the four housing associations into alignment was a lot of work.
“But, importantly, it added the care element from Gowrie to Hillcrest’s business.”
2008 crash an ‘absolute nightmare’
The financial crash of 2008, by which time Angela was also in charge of finance, was another tricky period for Hillcrest.
Its developments typically had a mix of properties for shared ownership sales as well as kept by the housing association for rent.
The crash meant property values plummeted and it couldn’t achieve the values of sales anticipated.
Again, Angela took a proactive approach.
“Prices were just plummeting and it had a massive impact,” she recalled.
“We negotiated with the Scottish Government and the local authorities to get additional funding or change these properties to social housing.
“We couldn’t sell them. It was just an absolute nightmare.”
Angela Linton on building for growth
However, the consequences of the financial crash played a key part in Hillcrest’s growth story.
The Scottish Government began to support more social housing projects as a way of stimulating the economy in terms of subsidies.
Meanwhile, the drop in interest rates meant borrowing costs greatly decreased.
After becoming deputy chief executive in 2010 and chief executive in 2014, Angela continued to focus on growing the number of properties Hillcrest owns.
When she took on the role, Hillcrest managed 6,398 homes. Today, that number has grown to an impressive 8,884.
Angela said: “It’s not expansion for expansion’s sake.
“There is still a real shortage of good quality homes that people can afford to heat and that’s why it’s been a good thing to do.
“There is still a huge number of people out there that need additional support to get a house and maintain a house.
“You’ve got people out there with addiction problems. It’s a good thing to try and help them.
“We’ve expanded to what we know is a need within society.
“Our mission statement is helping people live better lives. That is genuinely what we’re trying to do.”
Courier Business Awards among retirement plans
Angela, who will turn 60 next month, says she is now ready to retire. The Broughty Ferry resident is looking forward to spending more time with husband Gordon, who has also recently retired.
Her interests outside of work involve cycling, badminton and going to the theatre. She has also recently tried her hand at pickleball.
After winning the Business Leader of the Year award at last year’s Courier Business Awards, Angela will be part of the judging panel this year. Entries are now open for this year’s awards.
She has a family cruise planned with her two children and their partners and has just joined the Broughty Ferry lifeboat committee.
She is also “delighted” John Alexander is succeeding her and wishes him well in the role.
She added: “I do think Hillcrest will really benefit from somebody new coming in with different ideas and developing what we’ve done in a really positive way.
“It’s not always the case that you walk away from a job and be really happy with who’s replacing you but this is one of them.”
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