Karis Jones, a family law solicitor from Howells, has been attending the Huggard Centre in Cardiff to provide a free legal surgery to the community.
The Huggard Centre is a Cardiff based charity tackling homelessness and seeks to overcome the problems and barriers which force individuals to sleep rough. The Huggard Centre offers a day service which is open 365 days of the year, a 20 bed hostel with additional emergency spaces and 14 shared houses with tenant support which can accommodate 52 people. There are personal and tenant support staff on hand to help, advocacy and many volunteers who assist at the centre.
Once a month, Karis Jones visits The Huggard Centre to provide a free legal surgery to members of the Centre and members of the public on any issues relating to family law. Karis said: “The Huggard Centre has been providing frontline services to homeless people for over 20 years. Unfortunately, many people (due to the recession and significant changes to legal aid) do not have the funds to seek legal advice in respect to family matters; therefore, this is a great opportunity to help those in a vulnerable position. I have carried out three legal surgeries so far and they are proving to be very successful.”
Jenny Buckley, Day Centre Advocate at the Huggard Centre, said: “In the past we have had a good relationship with Howells Solicitors and in particular the family department. They have reacted quickly to urgent referrals and seem to be able to deal with our particular client group. The changes in legal help/aid have created obvious barriers to a client’s ability to access support with these issues. Many of our clients have children with whom there are contact and residence issues. Due to the often difficult situations they find themselves in, they are particularly vulnerable and find dealing with statutory agencies like Social Services and the Courts a very daunting prospect. We are now collaborating with Howells to provide a drop-in session once a month, for support, advice and possible referral to approach these issues. This is open to all homeless centres in Cardiff and their respective service users. It has so far proved extremely popular and is being frequently used.”
To find out when our next legal surgery is taking place, call Karis on 02920 437478 or Jenny on 02920 642000.
by Tristan Lewis
