We'll be out and about over the summer months, inspecting neighbourhoods.  Click on the link to see when we will be in your area.

A Residents' Association update from Rachel Bonner.

 Each year we ask residents to bid to have their areas refurbished.

Our Maintenance Team give a helping hand to Courthouse Junior School.

The size of the Housing Solutions Board has been reduced to create a more dynamic set-up.

Are you eligible for free childcare?

Top tips for improving your finances.

We have made some changes to improve service in the Customer Contact Centre.

When you call our Customer Contact Centre we will ask you some security questions to ensure that the personal information we hold about you is kept secure.

Over the last 15 years we have invested nearly £70 million in improving and modernising homes. All of our homes now meet the Government's Decent Homes Standard and in many we have gone beyond that standard.

It's your home, so we want to give you more choice , when we refurbish your kitchen and , or bathroom.

Our first in-house Grounds Maintenance Team, set up in response to resident feedback , has now started work.

Following our Inspection in 2008 we put together an action plan to tackle areas where improvements could be made.  The Tenant Services Authority have now signed off the action plan as complete.

Spring has finally arrived, so now is the time to start work if you want to enter our Graden In-bloom Competition.

Residents have given the thumbs up to the final designs for the Evenlode facelift which were unveiled recently.

Wenow send you a text to alert you if your rent account goes into arrears.

We are piloting Starter Tenancies for new tenants as part of a campaign to make sure our neighbourhoods are pleasant and peaceful places to live.

Solutions4Health is working in partnership with the NHS to offer free stop smoking clinics every Monday throughout January 2010.

Three new residents have been elected onto the Executive Committee of the MDHA Residents' Association.

We know how important it is that you receive clear and accurate information about your rent account.  We have re-designed our rent statements so that you can see at a glance if your account is in credit or arrears.

We are taking part in a National Fraud Initiative which aims to prevent and detect fraud in social housing.

The December 2009 edition of Streets Ahead is out now. Your copy should have been delivered directly to your door. If you have not received a copy call us on 0800 876 6060 or download one from the website.

We want your views on our proposal to apply for charitable status.

Youngsters at Ellington Park were treated to a dream day out following a community effort to smarten up their neighbourhood.

Housing Solutions is to freeze rents in 2010.

Avoiding your gas safety check can be costly. Last year we took legal action against four residents who consistently refused to give us access to carry out essential gas servicing.

We want to modernise our communal areas and we want residents to help us to decide what work should be done.

As homes become better insulated we are getting more reports of problems with condensation.

The Tenant Service Authority (TSA) is the new national regulator for homes owned by housing associations. Their goal is to work with landlords and tenants to improve services. The TSA website has a section where tenants can compare the performance of local housing providers. Click on the link below to go directly to the TSA website and compare our performance with that of other local housing associations.

http://portal.tenantservicesauthority.org/FindAndCompare.aspx

The communal garden at Phoenix Court, created by John Maisey won the top prize in our 2009 In Bloom gardening competition.

The Residents' Calendar has now been printed and should have been delivered direct to your door.  If you have not received your copy call us on 0800 876 6060 to request one.

The Streets Ahead September 2009 edition is out now.  This will be delivered direct to your door in the next few days. If you can't wait until then have a sneak preview here.

 We have launched a new Financial Inclusion Strategy to improve the welfare advice we offer residents.

From October we will start calling residents approximately 30 minutes before we are due to arrive for a repairs appointment to let you know that we are on our way.
 

As part of our Respect campaign we want residents to use their eyes and ears to help make their neighbourhood a better place to live.

If you are passionate about improving services and want to represent the views of other MDHA residents then your Residents' Association would like to hear from you.

We have introduced a dedicated member  of staff to keep communal areas in tip top condition.

Bridgewater Housing Limited is making changes to the way in which it delivers its services to our sheltered housing residents.

Green fingered Holyport residents will be opening up their gardens to raise money for a local charity.

Budding young film makers from Pinkneys Green have been creating movies and street art inspired by the area where they live.

Residents can now report incidents of anti-social behaviour online through our website.

If you are a keen shopper we may have the ideal resident involvement activity for you.

 Our mobile office will be out and about across the summer - so if you need to speak to us drop in for a chat and a cup of tea.

Make sure you don't miss the summer fun by putting the dates on your calendar now.

Don't miss out on your chance to enter this year's In-Bloom Gardening Competition. The closing date for entries is Tuesday 30th June.

As a result of resident feedback we are making changes to our caretaking service.

We have now undertaken asbestos surveys across our properties which were potentially built using asbestos. We have put together an on-line register which is available to our residents to view so that they can see whether their home may have been built using asbestos.

We are introducing new payment plans to help leaseholders spread the cost of major works.

There are lots of myths about how you can get to the top of the housing register. Unfortunately none of them are true. Read on to find out the real story about the housing register.

The neighbourhood officers will be carrying out monthly inspections. If you would like to meet up with them during the inspection please call 0800 876 6060 to arrange.

Designer Wayne Hemingway presented his design ideas for a new Evenlode at a meeting with residents on 2nd April 2009.

Some of our residents have told us that it is not free for them to call our 0800 number from their mobile phone, so we have introduced a new landline number.

Streets Ahead is set to get a new look.  The quarterly magazine is being redesigned with the help of a group of residents.  Twenty six volunteers came along to a Redesign Workshop in January to take on the task of redesigning Streets Ahead.

The latest edition of Streets Ahead is out now. Click on the link to view a copy.

Did you know that we also produce Streets Ahead in large format and audio CD for people with sight or reading difficulties?  If you would like to receive a copy of Streets Ahead in either of these formats please email alogie@mdha.co.uk.

In the last few months we have won two major awards for our customer focus.  And we would like to say congratulations and a big thank you to all those residents who have given us their time, to help improve our customer service.

We have decided to cap our rent increases due from April 1 2009, at five per cent to keep our rents at affordable levels.

The new Tenant Services Authority (TSA) wants your help in setting new standards for all social landlords.

Following the success of our latest Residents’ Calendar we are launching a new schools  competition to provide the pictures for the 2009/10 calendar.

For full details of the competition click here.

If you can't come to us we can come to you .  Our mobile office visits our neighbourhoods in Maidenhead twice a year and those outside Maidenhead four times a year. Click here to see when our mobile office will be in your area.

We want to start paying our Board members and we'd like to know what you think.

Find out the winners of MDHA's annual Garden in-Bloom competition.

A new pedal powered task force is set to hit the road in Maidenhead. Our Area Housing Officers have been issued with mountain bikes to help them in their work improving local neighbourhoods.

The Streets Ahead Winter 2008 edition is out now. Your copy should have been delivered direct to your door.  If you have not received your copy call us on 0800 876 6060 to request one, or download a copy from the Streets Ahead button found under Tenant Services.

We are now producing Streets Ahead in enlarged A3 format and audio CD for our residents who have sight difficulties. If you would like to receive Streets Ahead in this way please contact Diane Kane or Alison Logie on 0800 876 6060.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has launched a new Community and Safety Partnership website. The partnership which includes; Thames Valley Police, Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Thames Valley Probation Service, Berkshire East Primary Care Trust, Drug and Alcohol Action Team and the Youth Offending Team is committed to reducing crime in our communities.  The website gives advice about how to stay safe, where to get help about sustance misuse and how to report crime and anti-social behaviour.  Click on the link to go directly to the Community and Safety Partnership website www.rbwmsafety4all.org.uk.

We have published our Planned Improvements Works Programme for 2008 to 2010.  The programme provides a street by street guide of works we plan to carry out over the next two years.  The programme will have been delivered to you along with our Summer edition of Streets Ahead.

You can download our Planned Improvments Work Programme by clicking here or you can call us on 0800 876 6060.

We are hosting a whole series of community events over the summer months so please come along and join us.

We have recently published new hadbooks for our residents and leaseholders. If you have not received your copy please contact us on 0800 876 6060 and we will send one to you. The handbooks are designed to provide residents and leaseholders with a comprehensive guide to our services.

We have new policies and procedures for supporting our residents who are victims of domestic abuse, racial harassment or hate crime.

We have launched a new website called Neighbours and Neighbourhoods. The website www.neighboursandneighbourhoods.co.uk has been designed with the MDHA Residents' Association and has been set up to increase resident accessibility to our services by ensuring they are well informed about everything that is going on in their neighbourhood. Click here to go to the Neighbours and Neighbourhoods website.

The new Summer edition of Streets Ahead will be delivered to your door in the next couple of days.  If you can't wait until then you can download a copy from our website by clicking here.

The Mutual Exchange Register is now available to view on-line.  Residents wishing to make a mutual exchange can search for a suitable  exchange property on our website. Click here to go directly to the register.

We have a whole series of Estate Walkabouts planned for the coming months.

We are offering every household a free compost bin to recycle household waste.

Pick-up your free energy saving light bulbs in February.