Community HOUSING Advocacy Project (CHAP) is working Ayrshire-wide to prevent homelessness.

CHAP provides free services across Ayrshire and in North Ayrshire provides advice and assistance on housing, welfare rights and debt issues.

It is the go-to place for those seeking advice, with 858 Clients referred to the Advice and Information Service in 2019. The charity heads up various other projects across Ayrshire such as the AHAP project which assists those facing mortgage repossession in Ayrshire and the Let’s Do it Right Project, providing tenancy training to those in the private sector in East Ayrshire. CHAP also manage the Rent Deposit Scheme in East Ayrshire on behalf of the local authority.

Debbie Alexander, Service Director at CHAP, said: “The housing advice we provide can be anything from helping people to get a house, to people who have a house but can’t pay their rent, or even assisting people going to court because they’re facing eviction. We also assist those experiencing homelessness to ensure they are aware of their rights.”

CHAP believes that many housing and financial issues stem from individuals not knowing their rights, not knowing legislation and not knowing how to manage their finances appropriately. They exist to remedy this by providing support, advice and crisis intervention at any stage of the process.

Debbie said: “People have a right to go to court to defend their tenancy and people have a right to ask to be reconsidered for benefits. At the core of all our services is making sure people’s voices are heard and making sure people are not disadvantaged through not knowing their rights.”

To raise awareness of the reality of homelessness, CHAP delivers homelessness prevention workshops in secondary schools in North Ayrshire. These workshops aims to prevent homelessness, raise awareness of the reality of homelessness and destigmatise the issue.

Debbie said: “It’s not always the person on the street. It could happen to me or you. People think it happens to people who have a drug addiction, for example, but it could happen to anybody and for different reasons. We’re also trying to encourage young people to carefully consider their options before they leave home – to get a plan together and budget in advance if they want to have their own tenancy in the future.”

CHAP have also developed financial education workshops for delivery in local secondary schools, however the charity often struggle to secure funding for such pilot projects and hopes that local MSPs will start to recognise the work they are doing.

Debbie said: “The need for these projects is there. We’ve got teachers asking for extended lessons, but we don’t have the funding to resource this. It would be good for MSPs to know about the work we are doing in their constituency and the impact and outcomes of that.”

In relation to the cases of court representation that CHAP dealt with in 2019, the success rate of preventing eviction was 98%, with total financial gains of £860,755.86 achieved for clients, which includes £132,884.23 of debts written off.

To those facing housing or financial difficulties, Debbie assured: “What we always say is: it’s never too early or too late to get advice. Pick up that phone.”