Prince Willian is marking the two year anniversary of his ambitious Homewards programme – the Prince of Wales set up the charity to develop a blueprint for eradicating homelessness in all its forms
Prince William has urged those working towards ending homelessness to “keep going”, as he marked the two year anniversary of his ambitious Homewards programme.
The Prince of Wales set up the charity to develop a blueprint for eradicating homelessness in all its forms, “making it rare, brief and unrepeated”.
Six locations were chosen – Newport in south Wales, Lambeth in south London, Northern Ireland, Aberdeen, Sheffield and the three neighbouring Dorset towns of Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch – with the aim of delivering bespoke solutions to the homelessness issues in each area.
Today William said the campaign was starting to “shift the dial” and had already achieved a “lasting impact”. Marking Homewards’ second anniversary, the heir to the throne said the programme was now in “delivery mode”.
Outlining his optimism that it would lead to long-term change in a letter thanking Homewards’ local coalitions, he added: “There are now people who are no longer experiencing homelessness thanks to your tremendous efforts.”
More than 100 initiatives are in place across six locations around the UK, and some 300 homes – a mixture of empty accommodation, private rentals and new builds – are forecast to be delivered through Homewards’ Innovative Housing Projects.
The first residents moved into flats in Aberdeen in March after Homewards brought together a local housing association, high street retailers and others to provide and furnish the property, and the first tenants in Sheffield are moving in this week.
Two years in, the project has also launched a new early intervention initiative in schools to identify young people most at risk of homelessness.
The prince will hear how the Upstream scheme is working when he travels to Meadowhead Secondary School in Sheffield on Tuesday.
In February, William unveiled a new partnership with high street bank Lloyds Banking Group, which has made £50 million available to organisations tackling homelessness.
Nearly £3 million has also been secured for Homewards locations from partners and coalition members. In the letter, William wrote: “I am immensely proud to say that your collective effort has already allowed us to achieve lasting impact.
“After a year of convening, our second year has seen Homewards shift into delivery mode.”
He added: “Together, we are demonstrating tangible impact. I know this is a mammoth challenge and change won’t come overnight, but over the past year we’ve started to shift the dial and there are now people who are no longer experiencing homelessness thanks to your tremendous efforts.”
He described how creating long-term change was “complex and unpredictable”, adding: “But I am confident we can lead and inspire understanding, empathy and optimism that homelessness can be ended.”
The prince ended his letter by signing it in his own handwriting: “Keep going! William”. The Upstream school survey pilot is set to be rolled out to two other schools in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, later this year.
The preventative approach, which seeks to tackle the root causes of homelessness and provide support to young people and their families at the earliest opportunity, is modelled on the successful Geelong Project in Australia, which saw a 40% reduction in youth homelessness and a 20% reduction in the number of young people leaving school early.
Homewards has also created action plans to focus efforts on the most at-risk groups in each location, such as single people and under-25s in Aberdeen, lone parents in temporary accommodation in Lambeth and families and women facing multiple disadvantages in Newport.
Liz Laurence, Homewards’ programme director, said: “We’re proud to say, as we head into our third year, that Homewards is the broadest collective effort working to prevent homelessness across the UK.”
Ms Laurence added: “We set out with a mission to demonstrate that together it’s possible to end homelessness, and I think we are really confident about where we are… We are starting really to see a difference on the ground.”
The five-year campaign is a major long-term focus for William, who has told how visiting shelters with his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales when he was a child left a deep and lasting impression and inspired his work.
Polly Neate, former chief executive of Shelter and now an independent social policy commentator, said: “In our wider culture, as a country, we see homelessness as something that is inevitable, that we don’t really understand, that we feel powerless about doing anything about.
“What Prince William and Homewards are doing, if you want to put it in a nutshell, is tackling that culture straight on and saying ‘This is not inevitable. This is preventable’.”
