Changes to contact services for Salix Homes tenants
Services for Salix Homes tenants are changing with new ways for people to get in touch with their housing landlords.New offices, telephone points, extended opening times and more staff have all been introduced to make it easier for residents to contact the housing company.
New Saturday opening hours have started at the Hankinson Way neighbourhood office at Salford Shopping City enabling tenants to contact Salix Homes on weekends.
As well as opening on weekdays from 8.30am - 4.30pm the office will now operate on Saturdays from 9am - 12.30pm.
The changes have been brought in by Salix Homes, Salford City Council's housing management company after listening to local people.
86 per cent of tenants said they preferred to contact Salix Homes by phone while one in 10 said they liked to visit a local office. The option of a Saturday office was also very popular with residents.
A late night contact point is now available at Salix Homes' Salford head office, Diamond House on Peel Cross Road on a Tuesday and Thursday from 8.30am - 7pm.
These additional hours will run alongside the centre's usual opening hours on a Monday, Wednesday and a Friday from 8.30am - 4.30pm.
The St Simon Street office in Lower Broughton has now closed and two new drop-in centres called service points are open at the Broughton Resource Centre on Bury New Road in Higher Broughton and the Ordsall Neighbourhood Building on Robert Hall Street.
The Broughton Resource Centre will open on Monday from 8.30 - 11.30am, Wednesday from 9.30am- 11.30am and Tuesday and Thursday from 2 - 4pm. The Ordsall office will run on Monday to Thursday from 12noon - 2pm.
In addition people can contact Salix Homes through seven new free phone call points. (See notes to editors)
More staff will be based in the communities and will be able to carry out home visits.
An out-of-hours First Response team has been set up for tenants to report emergency repairs, antisocial behaviour and domestic abuse. The team can be contacted on the Salix Direct free phone number 0800 218 2000 which remains unchanged.
Meanwhile a new and improved Salix Homes website will launch later in the year making online services like paying rent, reporting issues and booking repairs simpler and more accessible.
Alison Hill, Salix Homes director of improvement and customer service said: "We piloted a number of options to allow tenants to give us their feedback before we made any decisions.
"We had a good response to the surveys and the new contact services we've put in place improve the customer experience and make it easier and faster for tenants to get in touch with us."
ENDS
Notes for editors
The seven new free phone call points are located at:
• Broughton Resource Centre
• Ordsall Neighbourhood Office
• Rainsough - Prestwich Mini-Market
• New Deal Office on Cromwell Road
• Lower Kersal Activities Centre
• Swinton Shopping Centre
• Langworthy Cornerstone
Salix Homes Ltd is helping to deliver Salford City Council's five-year strategy to bring all council housing up to the Decent Homes Standard, a multi-million pound vision for the city.
Salix Homes is an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) and is a not-for-profit company responsible for the day-to-day management of 10,600 homes across Central Salford, Rainsough Brow and Beechfarm.
It also assists the council in the operational delivery of the Housing Market Renewal Programme.
For more information on Salix Homes, please contact Public Relations Officer, Katy Barnes on 0161 793 3157.
