Prince William discusses homelessness with his children

Prince William has launched his initiative to end the homelessness crisis in the United Kingdom.

Speaking in South London on June 26, the Prince of Wales launched the Homewards initiative. He described the project as “a transformative five-year program that demonstrates that it is possible to end homelessness.”

According to the Homewards website, the Prince of Wales and The Royal Foundation have been collaborating with experts from across the globe two years prior to the programme’s launch, with the project drawing inspiration from successful initiatives in countries such as Finland.

To assist in providing practical and impactful support, The Prince of Wales’ programme has established six dedicated flagship locations across the United Kingdom to provide safe housing and support for individuals and families facing homelessness.

The programme is also focused on prevention, with the aim to provide resources and support to those who are struggling in order to make homelessness “rare, brief, and unrepeated.”

The Prince of Wales is doing his part to end homelessness.

(Image: Getty)

Prince William previously alluded to the programme in his first interview as heir, telling the The Sunday Times, that the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Royal Foundation would be launching a “really big project” dedicated to ending homelessness at the end of June 2023.

“It’s nerve-racking … but I’m really excited. I’ve been waiting for the right time to do this,” Prince William said previously.

The Prince of Wales also confirmed that plans were in to works for the heir to utilise a portion of the revenue from the Duchy of Cornwall, a multi-million-dollar commercial and private real estate portfolio, to build more social housing.

Speaking on his project, Prince William added that his overall aim centres around “bringing all the wonderful people and pieces together of the puzzle, and allowing the whole country who care about each other to go, ‘Ah, I see what the state of play is around homelessness is and I want to help’, and from that, we can then get other councils in other parts of the country to copy.”

Prince William’s initial announcement came less than one week after he officially opened Reuben House, a block of 33 subsidised studio properties, on behalf of youth homelessness charity Centrepoint.

Prince William famously slept rough in 2009 to experience the reality of homelessness.

(Image: Getty)

The 40-year-old has been a consistent advocate for the plight of homelessness, with the Prince of Wales serving as patron for both Centrepoint and The Passage.

Speaking on his commitment to end homelessness, Prince William attributes his drive to his mother Princess Diana, who also served as a patron for Centrepoint.

“My mother introduced me to homelessness from quite a young age, and I’m really glad she did,” Prince William previously told BBC One.

“I think she would be disappointed that we are still no further on, in terms of tackling homelessness and preventing it, than when she was interested and involved in it.”

Princess Diana visited The Passage in 1993 with 11-year-old Prince William and 9-year-old Prince Harry.

(Image: Twitter | @kensingtonroyal)

While Prince William has continued to tackle the issue of homelessness in the public eye, his advocacy also extends to his private life, with the father of three encouraging an open dialogue with his children about the issue.

“On the school run, we talk about what we see. When we were in London, driving backwards and forwards, we regularly used to see people sitting outside supermarkets and we’d talk about it.”

“When I left this morning, one of the things I was thinking was when is the right time to bring George or Charlotte or Louis to a homeless organisation?,” he stated, adding that his children will “grow up knowing that actually …some of us are very fortunate, some of us need a little bit of a helping hand, some of us need to do a bit more where we can to help others improve their lives.”