Herne Bay advice sessions to resume Thursday 29 October

We are restarting advice sessions in Herne Bay this week!

From Thursday 29 October Canterbury Housing Advice Centre will be providing weekly housing advice sessions at Herne Bay Citizens Advice between 10am and 12noon. Meetings continue to be strictly by appointment only.

These advice sessions will a little different to normal. In order to protect clients and staff they will take place via a video link between separate meeting rooms at Citizens Advice. This will be of benefit to those who do not have video conferencing at home, but also to allow clients to bring documentation that may need to be photocopied (rather than having to post documentation to us).

To make an appointment please call 01227 762605 or email adviceteam@chac.co.uk.

TeamCHAC complete 50km KM Big Bike Ride and raise over £1,500

Nick Jackson reports on TeamCHAC’s successful completion of the 50km KM Big Bike Ride

TeamCHAC successfully completed the Kent Messenger 50km Big Bike Ride Sunday 11 October. ‘Success’ means having made it round the course without the need for medical attention; we put in a fair bit of training over the preceding weeks but had no aspirations to a fast time. (Though I’m ashamed how pleased I am that my 87th place was one ahead of young Nick Piška, whom I beat by a comfortable 0.5 sec).  Only the two of us could make it on the day but we did not feel we were short-changing sponsors – we have as much tonnage between us as an average three- or slight four-person team. And it was nice for us not to have the pace set by super-fit colleagues.

The shape of the route on the map we were given at the start looked disconcertingly like we were to  circumnavigate Africa. The reality was less daunting but still quite a stretch – Waldershare, Eythorne, Chillenden, Ickham, Wickhambreaux, Grove, Richborough, Sandwich. The last 25km or so on the flat terrain of Thanet was fine but the first 25km, on the Downs, had been pretty demanding.  Signage was a bit sparse and difficult to follow until we got the hang of it despite Nick Piška’s surprising scouting skills. One or two other teams went spectacularly wrong early on and may still be out there looking for Betteshanger.

A 50km route around East Kent or circumnavigation of Africa?

Some parts of the course were a real struggle for us. It’s trite and insulting to compare a breathless few minutes on a bike with the far greater struggles of  CHAC’s clients facing homelessness. But no apologies for the comparison if helps our fund-raising. Many thanks to everyone who has sponsored us already. It’s not too late to sponsor us retrospectively – please do keep the money coming in.

You can still sponsor TeamCHAC here.

CHAC's Whitstable housing advice sessions to resume on Thursday 1 October

We’re delighted to announce that our Whitstable advice sessions are to resume as of 1 October. These advice sessions will now take place Thursdays 1pm to 3pm at the Whitstable Umbrella Centre by advance appointment only.

If you are threatened with eviction, have rent arrears or other housing difficulties issues in the Whitstable area call 01227 762605 or email adviceteam@chac.co.uk to make an appointment. And if you know someone threatened with eviction or with housing difficulties, please encourage that person to contact us as soon as possible - the earlier a problem is identified the more we can do to help.

TeamCHAC Rides Again! Please sponsor us!

The sequel to last year’s 50km sponsored bike ride was due to be released in April, but what with one thing and another that was postponed. But we’re pleased to announce that TeamCHAC will ride again on 11 October at Betteshanger Park as part of the KM Big Bike Ride to raise money for CHAC and KM charity Inspire Schools. Nicks Old and Young will be reprising their roles as amateur cyclists, even though neither made it into the final cut of the actual KM Bike Ride last time (but did take part in a bootleg version cycling to Ramsgate from Whitstable) with semi-pro trainer Richard Miller also saddling up.

We’ve set the modest target of raising £500, but obviously it would be great to raise significantly more. The demand for housing advice is likely to rise significantly in the coming weeks and months, and the money raised will help CHAC to provide advice in what for many will be grim circumstances. Please sponsor us here. 70% of sponsorship money goes to CHAC, with 30% going to the KM’s charity, Inspire Schools.

Click here to find out more about the KM Big Bike Ride and Inspire Schools.

CHAC is contributing to free 'Ending Homelessness in Kent and Medway' Webinar on 16 September 2020

The heading pretty much says it all! We’re taking part in a multi-agency free webinar discussing housing and homelessness in Kent and Medway. The webinar, taking place 10am-midday on Wednesday 16 September, will enable participants across Kent and Medway to discuss and plan for how to end homelessness, how to build on the progress made during the pandemic, and how to prevent homelessness increasing as economic difficulties mount. In additional to CHAC, speakers include experts from Kent Housing Options Group, local and national charities, and the University of Kent.

Sign up for the free webinar at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ending-homelessness-in-kent-and-medway-tickets-89601896685

Download the event poster here.

Peter Ash steps down as trustee

Peter Ash has stepped down as a trustee of CHAC. During his time as a trustee Peter headed up fundraising events - the Christmas party in 2019 being a successful funding- and awareness-raiser (as well as being great fun in a very different, unsocially distanced time). CHAC would like to thank Peter for the time he gave to CHAC, and wish him all the best for the future.

Peter Ash

CHAC Canterbury office reopens for face-to-face meetings (by appointment only)

We’re delighted to announce that we have resumed face-to-face meetings at our Canterbury office. In order to keep our staff, volunteers and the public safe a number of measures have been put in place:

• meetings are by advance appointment only

• protective screens in meeting rooms

• staff wear visors/masks

• clients are asked to wear a protective mask (unless exempt)

In the first instance we will endeavour to provide all necessary advice by phone or email, with face-to-face meetings a last resort. Remote meetings may also possible for those unable to attend the Canterbury office.

Unfortunately our Herne Bay and Whitstable drop-in services remain closed, but we continue to offer advice by phone, email and now remotely for clients from outside Canterbury city who cannot attend the Canterbury office.

For all housing inquiries, please call 01227 762605 or email adviceteam@chac.co.uk.

Helen Bowerbank steps down as trustee

Trustee and vice-chair Helen Bowerbank has resigned a trustee. Helen brought a wealth of experience of the housing association sector to CHAC and helped us update its data system. We’d like to thank Helen for her contribution to the management committee during her time as a trustee.

We’re looking for new trustees, so if you know the housing advice sector, have experience in fundraising, and/or have experience in governance and business plans (or other experiences relevant to being a charity trustee) please contact the chair, Nick Piska, by emailing chair@chac.co.uk.

Helen Bowerbank

Coronavirus/Covid-19 update

Due to the ongoing situation with coronavirus/covid-19 we are stopping all face-to-face meetings at CHAC. This is to keep our staff, volunteers and the public safe and ensure that CHAC can continue to give advice and help clients. As such we have suspended our Wednesday drop-in sessions in Herne Bay and Whitstable until further notice, and have closed our Canterbury office to the public.

However, CHAC remains available for advice. We expect that many will have concerns about paying rent and mortgages. Banks are putting in place mortgage holidays and Government is protecting renters from eviction.

If you have any problems with paying rent or mortgage or you are facing homelessness please contact us on 01227 762605 between 10 am and 2 pm (and outside of these hours we have an answerphone which is regularly checked). If you get the answerphone please leave a message, we will get back to you as soon as possible. You can also contact us by email at: adviceteam@chac.co.uk

Please note that with reduced staffing at the office and an expected rise in demand for our services there may be a delay in responding.

KM Big Bike Ride - 26 April 2020

TeamCHAC is taking part in the KM Big Bike Ride in April - for more info, including on how to join the team and how to sponsor us read the full story here.