News

Every two years we run a resident satisfaction survey. We call this a 'STAR' survey. This helps give us a solid idea of how happy you are with our services. The STAR survey will be running from 16th July to 31st August. 

This can be filled out via email or through the post. We look forward to hearing your views.

Thank you to everyone that has already completed this by email or SMS. Reminder texts will be sent on Thursday (26/07/2018) and paper copies of the survey will be sent out from 30/07/2018. 

The survey is being run by M.E.L Research. This is to ensure the results are independent. Your data will not be used by M.E.L for anything other than the purposes of this survey. 

In May this year, the Data Protection Act (1998) is changing. Coming in will be the 'General Data Protection Regulation' or GDPR. You will be hearing a lot about this from us over the coming months. We have updated our privacy notice to reflect changes in the GDPR. 

Below is a short version of our updated privacy notice: your rights, and key definitions from the GDPR. For the full details, please read our privacy notice. 

Every quarter we run Maintenance Action Group (MAG) and Customer Service Improvement committee (CSIC) meetings with residents, staff and Board Members. These resident meetings are your chance to give us feedback on our services: what is going well and what we can improve on.

Universal Credit is a new benefit to supprt you if you are out of work or on a low income. It will be replacing: Jobseeker's Allowance; Employment and Support Allowance; Income Support; Housing Benefit; Working Tax Credit; and Child Tax Credit. 

Our 6 top tips on how to stay warm this Winter.

 We have four shared ownership properties available on Help To Buy South (www.helptobuysouth.co.uk).

 We are having our annual open meeting on the 21st September and you are all invited.

You may have noticed our offices were closed last Tuesday (8/8/2017). This was because we had our annual staff away day. These days are often thought of as a fun ‘day off’ work where we do some cliché team building events and have a bit of fun. Whilst the day was a lot of fun, it was mostly focused on our service to our residents. 

 A development of new homes for affordable rent has been officially opened in Yate.

 A development of new homes for affordable rent has been officially opened in Bristol.

Our stakeholders have told us what they think of Solon, what we are doing and how we are doing it.

There is a lot of positive and encouraging feedback on various aspects of our work and the way we interact with partners ranging from local councils, contractors and supported housing agencies. 

Housing associations are inspected and regulated by a publicly funded organisation called the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA). This is similar to the system for inspection and regulation of schools by Ofsted to check that they are run properly.

We have received the results of our comprehensive customer survey!

424 households - 38% of our customers - told us what they think of our services and the way we do things.

Solon’s Board confirms compliance with the Homes and Communities Agency’s Governance and Financial Viability Standard

The annual report 2015-16 has now been sent out to all residents.

This year we will be at the SS Great Britain on Sunday 4/9/16 between 10 & 2pm

Solon Housing Association is proud to unveil twenty four new homes for rent at Kelston Close in Yate. This is Solon’s largest development to date.

Residents moved into our fourteen newly build flats at Brunswick Street in May.

We are delighted to report our re-selection as a member of the Homeswest partnership. This means that Solon will be able to continue its work in Bristol and South Gloucestershire as a development partner, producing new affordable homes for local residents

The housing association regulator – the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) – sets a Value for Money Standard which housing associations are required to meet.

We are expected to demonstrate to stakeholders how we are meeting the Standard. As part of that process, we are required to publish an annual self-assessment which sets out how we are achieving value for money in delivering our purpose and objectives.

The self-assessments of all eligible housing associations – published last July – have now been reviewed by the HCA. We are pleased to report that the HCA was satisfied that Solon meets the Value for Money Standard.

Come and join us to take a look at some Solon properties, and help us decide how to spend the Environmental Improvement Budget - a pot of money to help improve the areas where our residents live.

Every year we complete a monitoring exercise of our Service Standards. We have just completed this exercise and published the results to our staff, Board and Committees and now they are available on our website for you all to have a look at. 

A Resident Coach Tour to view possible Environmental Improvement Schemes has been scheduled for Thursday 13th June.

The tour will take residents to look at Solon schemes where residents have suggested potential projects to improve their area. The improvements include planting of bushes and trees, fencing, increased security measures and providing benches... amongst others!

We have a total of £15,000 to spend and hope to agree with yourselves on the day how we are going to spend it...

We wanted to share details with you of a Job Club being run by Southern Brooks Community Partnership. 

The job club is for people aged 18-25 who would like free informal support to find a job in a friendly environment. 

Social housing providers around Bristol have partnered up for a series of speed-dating for houses events, to help their tenants move.

Merlin Housing Society, Bristol City Council, Knightstone Housing Association and Solon South West Housing, have introduced the events as an innovative solution to help people affected by Welfare Reform.

Most of our residents will be familiar with the name Seddon Property Services who carry out all the day to day repairs work on Solon Properties.

However, Seddon are changing their name to 'Novus' which is Latin for 'New'.

Celebrating Carers is an event celebrating and supporting all carers in South Gloucestershire.

The event is free, and is being held on Saturday 13 April 2013, between 10am and 3:45pm at The UWE Exhibition and Conference Centre, UWE, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Land, Bristol, BS34 8QZ.

We are delighted to announce that the social housing regulator "The homes and Communities Agency" has endorsed Solon's financial viability and quality of governance in its latest Regulatory Judgement.

In August 2012 we installed photo voltaic panels on the roofs of some of our properties. these generate a sustainable and environmentally source of energy to power homes. We now get statistics on how well these panels are performing and we can bring you the results!

Are you looking to move? Do you have too many bedrooms or not quite enough? Are the stairs becoming a problem? If so, we need you!

We have released the 2011 Rent Comparison.

Our new business plan has been published for 2011-14.

Free debt advice on the Consumer Credit Counselling Service's website

The annual report 2010-11 has now been sent out to all residents.

We have been working with other organisations in the South West to provide services that save money and improve quality

Loft and cavity wall insulation offers from energy suppliers

Work started on re-designing reception on Monday 5th September. It is anticipated the work will take 6 weeks (finishing 14th October). We are now using a temporary reception while the work is being done. You can access this by the alternative door at the front of the Solon building (signs have been put up to make this clear).

Please be patient with us while this work is going on, as there may be some noise and disruption to normal services.

If you are planning a visit to the office and are worried about access, please call to talk through any concerns on 0117 9244071.

Come and get involved in the new contractor selection!

We are pleased to announce that we have obtained Government funding to support our loft insulation improvement programme. 

We have changed the way we give you appointments for your repairs.

Mock Inspectors find Solon has improved since Audit Commission Short Notice Inspection