Royal assent: Prince William launches five-year campaign to end homelessness
Following in his mother’s footsteps, Prince William has announced he will dedicate his life’s work to ending homelessness.
Today, Prince William, the next King of England, unveiled his plans to make sleeping on the streets and living in temporary accommodation a thing of the past.
Known as ‘Homewards’, the Prince’s campaign is due to focus on six pilot locations on a path towards ending homelessness within the next five years. The project marks William’s first major announcement as the Prince of Wales, and forms a cornerstone of his work – on par with his Earthshot Prize, a £1m grant awarded to five winners each year for their contributions to environmentalism – and will be a priority for the rest of his life.
The Prince, who will embark on a tour of all six areas today (Monday 26th June), hopes that the pilot projects will create blueprints that can be adopted by any town or city, eventually ensuring that homelessness in the UK becomes ‘rare, brief, and unrepeated’.
He aims to continue the work of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, who was patron of homelessness charity Centrepoint and regularly helped people living on the streets, as well as build his own legacy.
Ahead of the launch, the Prince said: ‘In a modern and progressive society, everyone should have a safe and secure home, be treated with dignity and given the support they need.
‘Through Homewards, I want to make this a reality and over the next five years give people across the UK hope that homelessness can be prevented when we collaborate.’
Fleshing out some of the details of his new project, Prince William outlines that the focus will be on providing permanent homes, meaning that each location will be expected to deliver an innovative housing project.
Today we are incredibly proud to unveil #Homewards – a UK-wide programme to end homelessness, launched alongside The Royal Foundation @HomewardsUK pic.twitter.com/4sybTg9Faz
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) June 26, 2023
However, with rates of inflation still continuing to soar, The Royal Foundation will pump an initial £500,000 seed funding into each area to assist with this.
Alongside this, the foundation will also appoint a local leader who will bring together all those pivotal to forcing change, from local authorities to prisons, schools and housing associations. They will each deliver a tailored plan to prevent homelessness in their area, based on their own unique needs.
Speaking ahead of the launch, Prince William said: ‘I am fortunate to have seen first-hand the tireless work of people and organisations across the sector, the tangible impact their efforts can have and what can be done when communities are able to focus on preventing homelessness, rather than managing it.
‘It’s a big task, but I firmly believe that by working together it is possible to make homelessness rare, brief, and unrepeated and I am very much looking forward to working with our six locations to make our ambition a reality.’
Image: Andrew Parsons/Kensington Palace