Prince William set to unveil new Homewards strategy in major speech | Royal | News
Prince William will make an important speech today (Image: Getty)
“Homelessness is not an individual failure, it is a systemic failure,” the Prince of Wales will say today as he celebrates the third anniversary of the Homewards scheme. At a celebration event on Tuesday, William will highlight how his five-year project, which aims to prove it is possible to make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring, has already helped thousands of people access stable homes, jobs and support before they reach a crisis point.
The Prince will explain how Homewards has gained the support of businesses including Specsavers, Nando’s, Ikea and Lloyds Banking Group; £1.9 million has been invested in prevention through the Homewards Fund, with a further £3.5 million provided through grants and private philanthropy.
William is expected to say: “Homelessness is not an individual failure, it’s a systemic failure. And if systems help create the problem, then systems can help prevent the problem. By testing new approaches, Homewards shows how prevention can be built into every part of our society. It proves that our true power lies not in isolation, but in a common purpose that makes us greater than the sum of our parts.”
Today’s celebration event will be hosted by Radio 1 DJ Dean McCullough and will be joined by one of his sporting heroes, Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings, who has been a Homewards advocate since its inception, TV presenter Gail Porter and renowned homelessness expert Baroness Louise Casey.
The event also brings together partners, businesses and people with lived experience to highlight emerging solutions.
William launched Homewards in June 2023 to show that homelessness can be prevented when we work together.
It operates from six flagship locations in the UK; It brings together local leaders, businesses, distribution organizations and experienced people to design and deliver customized solutions for each location.
It aims to create a tried and tested model to prevent homelessness that can be scaled across the UK and beyond.
Prince William visits homeless shelter with his mother (Image: Geçit/PA)
In three years, more than 2,400 people have been supported to ensure that homelessness never becomes a part of their lives. More than 70 individuals and families are accommodated in permanent homes, and more than 250 people are supported into employment.
These results come from a deliberate shift towards prevention, expanding the frontline of support beyond traditional services, and working with schools, employers and healthcare professionals to ensure they can engage earlier.
Last year, Homewards moved from testing ideas to forming large-scale partnerships; These partnerships include a £2.3 million furniture collaboration with The Multibank, DfS, Bosch Home Appliances, IKEA and B&Q to help furnish Homewards homes, and the creation of the Homelessness Data Lab, which brings together more than 25 partners to explore how data and technology can help identify risks earlier.
As Homewards enters its final phase, William will outline the project’s next goal: scale.
He is expected to say today: “The next two years will be spent proving that what works in six places can work across the country.”
The plan is to focus on scaling solutions to their greatest potential, creating a model that can be implemented across the UK and internationally.
William’s keen involvement with the Homecoming Project is evident from his frequent visits to each of the pilot locations, and when asked what his meetings with the Prince were like, Hazel Destiny, Executive Director of the Royal Foundation for Homelessness, described them as “effective”.
“The question Prince always asks me is, ‘How do we know after five years that this is working and that it’s working in terms of long-term change?’
“If we start changing the culture, if people throughout society think differently, act differently, work together, feel optimistic, then that will also be part of sustainable long-term change that will spread to other places.”
William has been interested in tackling homelessness for decades, ever since his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, began discussing the issue with him as a child.
He later took her and her younger brother, Prince Harry, to visit a homeless shelter to deepen their understanding of homelessness.
