8 News FURNITURE RECYCLING SCHEME IS SUPPORT FOR T


Easy ways to pay rent


1. DIRECT DEBIT: Set up a bank instruction to pay your rent weekly, fortnightly, four- weekly or monthly.


2. ONLINE: Visit our website www.gha.org.uk and follow the instructions.


3. BY TELEPHONE: Call 0800 479 7979 to pay by debit or credit card.


4. BY STANDING ORDER: Set up a standing order with your bank.


5. POST OFFICE: Pay at the post office with a GHA rent payment card.


6. BY PAYPOINT: At any shop that displays the PayPoint sign.


7. BY POST: Send a cheque or postal order to: GHA, 173 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HF.


8. HOUSING BENEFIT: If you receive full housing benefit, your rent is paid by Glasgow City Council. If you receive partial housing benefit, you are responsible for paying the rest.


When a house be T


ENANTS across the city are turning a house into a home with our recycled furniture


service. Our Home Comforts scheme


recycles old items of furniture and passes them on free of charge to tenants who need help to furnish their home. It can help with everything from cookers and washing machines to coffee tables and bedside lamps. The service, funded by the Wheatley


Foundation, can be a real lifeline for tenants. Tenant Mary-Ann Kirkbride, from


Pollokshaws, said the service really helped her get back on her feet. Mary-Ann, 52, said: “I’d been homeless before I moved into my new home in February and I had no furniture at all.


“My housing officer put me in touch with Home Comforts. I got a bed for my daughter, two wardrobes, a lamp, a bedside table, chest of drawers, washing machine and a cooker. It was a real lifeline. I’m so grateful. “If it wasn’t for Home Comforts, I don’t know where I’d be. “It’s fantastic – and the furniture is


great quality. Being homeless knocks your confidence, but I feel more like a person now. Now I can come home


and relax, and I really appreciate it. “It’s not just bricks and mortar – it’s a home. And that’s all I ever wanted.” GHA Chair Bernadette Hewitt added: “Home Comforts is a great way of helping tenants who need a bit of extra support to furnish their home. “It can be a real help to tenants who don’t have much.


“If it wasn’t for Home Comforts I don’t know where I would be”


“Home Comforts is always looking


for furniture or white goods too, so if any tenants have items they want to donate we’d be delighted to pick them up and find them a good home.”


• We’re always looking for


furniture and white goods and we can pick items up free of charge. Email homecomfortdepot@ wheatley-group.com or phone free on 0800 479 7979 and we’ll arrange a time and date for collection. If you need a bit of help from Home Comforts, talk to your housing officer.


How giving to charity helps kee


Hoarding – the difficulty in getting rid personal possessions – affects more than 1.2 million people in the UK. Here, a tenant from the South talks about her experience.


I STARTED hoarding 13 years ago after my youngest brother died. He was 20 and committed suicide. I kept his clothes and some furniture. Two years later my dad died. I kept


Want more information? Call us on Freephone 0800 479 7979 or go to www.gha.org.uk


i theKEY - www.gha.org.uk


my dad’s possessions too, especially his clothes. I was afraid to throw things out. I really missed both of them and it was a way of making sure they were still with me. It was my way of remembering. It was so hard to let go. But my house looked like a jumble


sale, especially my bedroom, with clothes everywhere and things lying around. It was a mess. I was embarrassed and wouldn’t let people in my house. I pretended I wasn’t in, wouldn’t answer the door. I thought I would get into trouble with GHA. But I started talking to my housing


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