East Lothian offers a full housing service

This is the East Lothian Housing Advice Resource (HAR). It is a database of local housing information for East Lothian housing workers in the statutory, voluntary or private sectors.

The first three pages provide information about the department of Community Housing and Property Management, CHPM for short:

CHPM Structure and Contacts - outlines the organisation of the department and explains how to get in touch with sections and teams. The CHPM Staff Guidance - page contents have been moved to our process management system, NIMBUS 'The Way we Work.' The staff manual is still available however, and partner agencies can find out how to request copies of our procedures.

Other sections of the HAR  include:

* Gypsy Travellers - a guide to the legal and social responsibilities of the Council, with links to G&T websites.
*  Health and Housing - provides information about local surgeries and hospitals and links to research into the health problems caused by poor housing.
* The section on the Housing Advice Partnership  is a forum for the Council's partner organisations, that provide housing advice in East Lothian. A Directory of 20 organisations and Council sections providing advice is also available.
* The Housing Options Guide (HOG) provides core housing information. It ranges from details of our housing stock, through repair grants, to renting from a Housing Association.
* The Legal Issues section highlights areas of housing law, and provides updates on legislative change. It links to a variety of documents and web sites. It is not a subsitutue for legal advice but provides an overview.
* Two sections of the HAR deal with aspects of Housing Support. The role of the Throughcare and Aftercare team in assisting care leavers is one, the other concerns the Supporting People team. Further advice for those aged 16-21 is available from the Homelessness team. 

In addition to these topics, you can link from this page to housing pages elsewhere on the site. In particular our  Property Shop, which gives information about property available in all tenures and  Tax and Money Advice which details Benefits regulations and links to advice on debt.