Prince William will tour the United Kingdom to kick off his five-year effort to reduce homelessness.
The Prince of Wales’s goal is to make rough sleeping, couch surfing, and other forms of temporary lodging obsolete.
His five-year project called ‘Homewards’ will initially focus on six locations, which will be announced during Monday and Tuesday.
With up to £500,000 in financing, local businesses, organisations, and individuals will be urged to join forces and build “bespoke” action plans to combat homelessness.
It is part of an effort to replicate Finland, where the problem has been nearly eliminated.
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
“In a modern and progressive society, everyone should have a safe and secure home, be treated with dignity, and given the support they need,” said the future monarch, who was first taken to a homeless charity by his mother, Diana.
He said “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.”
William will begin a two-day tour of the UK to launch his project on Monday starting in London.
The program will focus on housing, with each site assisted to produce an innovative housing project that will explore new approaches to unlock dwellings at scale within and beyond the location.
The six sites chosen, one of which is in London, were picked through a bidding procedure, and the initiative’s findings and results will be used to produce models that can be adopted by other parts of the UK.
There are around 300,000 people experiencing homelessness across the UK on any given night according to Matt Downie, chief executive of the charity Crisis, one of a number of homelessness partner organisations of Homewards.
