About Us

Cleveland Housing Advice Centre (CHAC) is a charity dedicated to assisting residents living in Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar & Cleveland, Hartlepool, Darlington and beyond with any issues they may face with Welfare Benefits, Housing and Debt. This includes supporting them with making and managing benefit claims, challenging decisions, dealing with disrepair, evictions, landlord disputes and supporting them on the path to being debt free.

CHAC’s impact is significant to not only the individual client, but also their families, dependants and to the wider community. Since we started in 1990 we have helped 295,000 people and secured more than £110 Million in unclaimed benefits and other entitlements for our clients.

This has resulted in a significant reduction of anxiety and stress, an improved standard of living for the recipients as well as their family, as well as a substantial positive impact on their community i.e. through bills and rent being paid, homes being maintained, spending in the local economy, etc.

The overall effect of this results in more jobs being created and sustained which in turn benefits both our clients and our local area. Without our help this money would have remained unclaimed, and the local community would have missed out on this extra spending.

We collect feedback from clients who access our service and this tells us that 97% of our clients would recommend CHAC to others, 60% say that our advice reduced their social isolation or improved their quality of life, and 40% said it impacted positively in their physical and/or mental health.

All of our services are free. We have a main office in central Middlesbrough and also deliver advice sessions from several different Hubs around the area, to ensure easy access to our services. We can also provide home visits for clients who are unable to attend either the Hubs or our main office, as well as providing advice by telephone and email if suitable.

Because our services are provided free of charge we must thank our generous funders whose backing allows us to carry on delivering our services year after year. Our Annual Report linked below provides a full list of all the funders who have helped us in recent years. We offer our sincerest thanks for their kind support.