In November 2006, Caer Las were approached by BBC Radio Wales to host a phone-in programme dealing with attitudes to homelessness.

Research had shown that 50% of the public thought homelessness was a personal choice and most would prefer to give money to animal rather than homelessness charities.

We invited a broad cross-section of our clients to attend the live debate at Access Point. A local homelessness solicitor came along and it was hosted by Richard Evans from BBC Radio Wales.

The phone-in took two hours.  Clients responded articulately and calmly to listener’s calls, which started off in agreement with the research findings and were at times provocative.  But once listeners had a chance to hear the facts and more about individual situations, there seemed to be a change in attitude from the calls coming through.

David F said,

“I was pleased with how the debate went though some of the attitudes of the people who phoned in were shocking!  I was made homeless by my previous business partner who disappeared after running up massive debts.  This meant that my home was repossessed and I was forced to stay in a hostel.  So being homeless certainly wasn’t a choice for me! 

It was good to have the chance to let people know that this can happen to anyone.  And I felt like callers were starting to understand this as the phone-in progressed.”

Richard Evans, from BBC Radio Wales said,

“Caer Las staff were really helpful and arranged everything at the last minute.  We were pleased with how well the panel took the comments from listeners, which were at times colourful to say the least!  We’re keen to bring new perspectives to issues like homelessness and this gave us a great platform to educate the public on this.”