On 9 February, Sovereign Vale, formerly known as The Vale Housing Association Ltd and part of the Sovereign Housing Group, celebrated its 15th birthday. In this time it has helped to house over 5000 families, giving them much needed affordable homes with help and support every step of the way.
The Vale Housing Association was set up 15 years ago after a transfer of the housing stock from the Vale of White Horse District Council. The stock transfer was based on helping to improve services to tenants and to build new homes, which at that time local councils were not allowed to do. The transfer had the full support of both tenants and local partners and heralded a new lease of life for the provision of social housing in the Vale area.
Over the 15 years Sovereign Vale has seen a considerable growth in the number of homes it manages and is now the largest social housing provider based in Oxfordshire, with almost 6500 homes. It has expanded its area of operation through its links with the Sovereign Housing Group, and now has homes in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and South Northamptonshire. It is building an average 150 new homes per year and has plans to build further 1500 homes over the next ten years.
An important part of Sovereign Vale is its commitment to listening to its residents and shaping its services to meet their needs. As part of this they run active resident consultation events for new and existing residents and are increasingly being acknowledged for the community investment they are making in a number of areas.
Sovereign Vale has also worked hard in the last 15 years at building an excellent brand name based on a reputation of delivering high quality services to its residents and working with local partners to meet the growing demand for social housing in our communities.
Jaqui Hepher, a resident Board member at Sovereign Vale noted, “We are really proud of helping over 5000 families in the last 15 years. Not only that, we also really pleased at the positive response we have had from all our residents in that time and the fact that we have been able to make a difference and offer them the homes that they deserve.”
