CALLS are growing for advice sessions which help people cope with housing and benefits problems to be reinstated.

Two regular sessions in Westfield which is York's most deprived ward stopped recently and campaigners are calling for them to be brought back.

York man Richard Bridge said that people who arrived at the Gateway Centre recently were met by City of York Council signs, announcing that both housing advice and housing benefit advice sessions were not going ahead.

Cancelling the sessions means people in the area cannot get the help they need to stop financial or housing problems getting worse, he said.

He has called on the new Tory-Lib Dem council administration to show that fighting poverty is a priority, even though the coalition has not renewed council anti-poverty targets which ran out this year.

City council officers blamed staff shortages for the cancellations at the Gateway Centre.

Pauline Stuchfield, assistant director of customers and employees, said: “Providing timely and prompt housing and council tax benefit and York Financial Assistance Scheme (YFAS) to customers is a key role for the council and one that gets plenty of demand.

“At West Offices, the council answers over 2,500 calls a month about housing, council tax benefits and YFAS, and have almost 2,000 customer visits a month.

“There has been recent, short-term pressure on the service which has resulted in a short-term relocation of the service to West Offices."

She added: "The Acomb service will resume as soon as resources become available."

She said Gateway Centre customers can use its phone to contact the customer services for immediate support. Welfare Benefit advisors are also available for home visits.

Andrew Waller, a Lib Dem councillor for Westfield, said: “The sessions at the Gateway Centre were stopped in March by the previous Labour administration. This followed Labour’s decision to close the Acomb Housing Office in February 2012 and broke a promise they made at that time to continue to offer advice sessions in this part of the city. "

He added: “I have asked officers to reverse Labour’s decision to stop the sessions and I will work with the Executive to see how we can re-start them The advice sessions are important as they offer local residents help with issues such as housing and benefits. They should be a key part of the council’s financial inclusion work going forward, and should be linked better with community centres in the area.”

Acomb ward councillor and Labour deputy leader, Coun Stuart Barnes said: “Having spoken with officers and residents in Acomb ward about this, I know that housing advice sessions still take place at the Gateway, but didn’t for one week, and housing benefit advice sessions have been relocated temporarily to West Offices since the election, under Coun Waller’s administration. This calls into question whether Coun Waller is deliberately seeking to mislead the public or whether he is simply having serious communication problems with his own officers."