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Prince William’s new homelessness project to fund affordable housing in six locations
Six locations will be given up to £500,000 flexible seed funding to spend on tackling homelessness under a new initiative by Prince William.
The project, named Homewards, will enable local coalitions of experts, organisations and charities to put together an action plan over the next five years.
This would include an affordable housing project in each location, Kensington Palace said.
This morning Lambeth in London was revealed as one of the six locations. In Lambeth, the council will work as part of a coalition of individuals, organisations and businesses to create and deliver a plan to prevent and end homelessness.
Cllr Claire Holland, leader of Lambeth Council, said Lambeth faced "increasing demand" for homeless services and "huge challenges in relation to housing supply meaning we want and need to do more."
She added: “Homelessness is incredibly damaging for people’s life chances and their well-being. As we continue on our journey to be a borough of equity and justice, we are determined to work even harder with partners to prevent homelessness and shine a light on often overlooked groups such as young people and women who experience domestic abuse."
The other five locations are: Aberdeen; Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole; Northern Ireland; Sheffield; and Newport.
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The locations were chosen to reflect the spread of homelessness across the country, from coastal to post-industrial areas.
Homewards will also operate a national panel of experts, including Metropolitan Thames Valley chief executive Geeta Nanda, University of Glasgow professor Ken Gibb and Arup’s Tom Bridges, as well as individual advocates with personal experience of homelessness.
Inside Housing understands that Homewards will support the locations to invest and leverage partners such as housing associations to unlock new housing.
Last week the Prince told The Times that he wished to end “hidden homelessness” in Britain and said he would build social housing on his land in the Duchy of Cornwall, a 130,000-acre property empire.
A Kensington Palace spokesperson said: “Homewards is locally led and grounded in collaboration… this is a five-year commitment [that] has been developed with experts from across the sector and beyond.”
