Dear Editor,

It is sad that Tai Ceredigion may once again be thwarted over the site, in their plans for social housing, when the current economic climate has increased the urgency to house the homeless in Cardigan and district. The resident's spokesman acknowledged that they, the residents of Tenby Road, are not against social housing.

Unfortunately, homelessness can be one of the many problems that beset a whole range of the people in our communities, and is not necessarily self-inflicted. It can be just one issue involved in the slippery downward slide, that is the lot of those who have experienced: sickness; redundancy; divorce or separation and neglect or bereavement.

Do we have any charitable land-owners who have a smallish patch of unused land in Cardigan, that they might be willing to sell or donate? Who owns the waste land opposite the hospital, I wonder? because it looks as if the Council is running out of sites.

However, I was prompted to write about this subject because I am appalled by the comments from the Tenby Road home-owners. To lump all the residents of Ridgeway and Golwg y Castell together is insulting to those in the estates, who struggle to lead tidy lives, but are not fortunate enough to own detached houses in a quiet cul-de-sac on the edge of such a pretty town.

Over the years, I have spoken to several youngsters who were tormented and alienated by their peers at school; and others who though they did reasonably well at school were not even granted an interview for a job, once their address, Ridgeway, was known.

The stigma attached to the occupants of some social housing estates and the stereotypical remarks voiced by their neighbours, over the road, is distasteful and injurious to the residents of Ridgeway and Golwg y Castell and their children. Neither will it help them to achieve in their lives and improve their situation.

Maggie Rogers,

Clydfan

Gwbert Road

Cardigan