The implications of recent Supreme Court decisions for homelessness are the topic of a guest lecture to be delivered by Professor Dave Cowan at Kent on Thursday 19 November.
The guest lecture, jointly hosted by Kent Law School and the Canterbury Housing Advice Centre (CHAC), will be the second annual lecture held to raise awareness of the important work CHAC undertakes supporting people facing homelessness.
Canterbury based charity CHAC was founded in 1991 and is chaired by Nick Jackson, a Senior Law Lecturer at Kent Law School. CHAC works to prevent homelessness in Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay with specialist caseworkers providing support to people at risk of eviction or repossession. CHAC also offers advice on mortgage arrears, tenancy rights and housing benefit.
Professor Dave Cowan teaches Property Law at the University of Bristol Law School, including his own optional units, Welfare Housing and Complaints and their Redress. He is the co-author of a research report examining current practises of shared ownership in the UK. The report, ‘Exploring experiences of shared ownership housing: reconciling owning and renting’, was written in collaboration with Professor Helen Carr from Kent Law School and was launched in the House of Lords in July.
After graduating from Southampton with a degree in Law in 1989, Professor Cowan worked as a Research Assistant at the Law Commission (1990-1991), before becoming a Lecturer at Southampton University (1991-1993), Sussex University (1993-1995), and then Bristol University (1995-).
Professor Cowan’s research is mostly socio-legal, and focuses on social theory and the housing system(s). His books include Homelessness: The (In)Appropriate Applicant (Dartmouth, 1997), Housing Law and Policy (MacMillan, 1999), as well as co-authored books, The Appeal of Internal Review (Hart, 2003), Regulating Social Housing: Governing Decline (Glasshouse, 2005) and Regulating Renting: Governing the Private Rented Sector (Routledge, 2007).
Professor Cowan has conducted and managed research funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Nuffield Foundation, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. He was Vice-Chair of the Socio-Legal Studies Association from 2001-2003, and a member of the Civil Justice Council’s Housing and Land Sub-Committee from 2000-2004. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Law and Society, Policy and Politics, and is currently an editor of Social and Legal Studies.
Kent Law School helped raise more than £1,500 for CHAC last year. Events included a charity abseil by School staff, a craft sale and a cake sale.
All are welcome to attend Professor Cowan’s guest lecture which will be held in Grimond Lecture Theatre 2 (GLT2). Welcome drinks will be served from 6pm with the lecture beginning at 6.30pm. Attendance is free but there will be a retiring collection on behalf of CHAC.
For more information about the free, confidential and independent help that CHAC provides, visit their Facebook page or website.