In 2023, Prince William launched Homewards, a small-scale project to build affordable low-income housing for homeless people or people in need. Homewards works in six cities and some housing has been built, or is in the process of being built. If William had simply explained Homewards in the way in which I’m explaining it right now, I think it would have worked out a lot better for all involved. As in, describing it as a small-scale pilot program, using Homewards as a model which can be modified and adjusted before scaling up. Instead, William announced Homewards as the solution to “end homelessness” and William presented himself as the savior of homeless people. Now it’s blowing up in his face as four out of six Homewards cities have seen huge increases in their homeless populations. So much for “solving” homelessness.

Andy Burnham is not the only one who faces a difficult task in pledging to end rough sleeping and tackle the UK’s housing crisis. Homelessness is rising in four out of six UK locations where Prince William has spent the past three years trying to show how the problem can be solved.

The challenge facing the heir to the throne at the start of the fourth year of his five-year Homewards project, which he hopes will serve as a model to end homelessness across the entire country, is laid bare in the latest government figures.

They show that the number of households assessed as homeless has increased in four of the six pilot project areas – Aberdeen; Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole; Northern Ireland; and Sheffield – compared with a year earlier. Only in Newport, in south Wales, and the London borough of Lambeth were there concrete signs of improvement, and even there the figures are still high.

Burnham vowed to end rough sleeping in Greater Manchester when he was mayor, but failed to achieve it, and made a similar nationwide pledge on his first day in Downing Street. He and William have swapped notes via aides regularly on tackling the wider problem of homelessness, which includes sofa surfers and others in temporary accommodation.

Burnham’s efforts since 2017 in Greater Manchester have proved an inspiration for William, according to a royal source. But the latest figures for England, released last Thursday, show a mixed picture regarding the new prime minister’s success.

William’s aim is to help put each of his six locations on the path to ending homelessness – or at least make it rare, brief, and unrepeated – within his five-year target date of June 2028. Working with local authorities, charities and businesses, his tailored approach includes early intervention and employment support to try to prevent people losing their homes in the first place. But the project faces serious challenges amid a nationwide crisis caused by factors including a shortage of social housing, rocketing rents, spiralling house prices, a growing population, family breakdown, and demand for accommodation for refugees.

Michael Corbishley, head of local delivery for Homewards at the Royal Foundation, said William’s project was helping to prevent some people reaching crisis point but acknowledged homelessness continued to rise in places: “Affordable housing is essential, which is why Homewards is delivering housing projects. But lasting change depends on combining more homes with prevention and support.”

[From The Observer]

Obviously, Prince William is not solely responsible for the skyrocketing homelessness numbers. It’s as I said – the reason why these numbers are being thrown in William’s face is because William has spent years overpromising and underdelivering. His messaging on one of his signature “issues” has always been chaotic at best, and wildly hypocritical at worst. His office literally announced a homeless project while William was on vacation. William moved into his seventh forever home less than a year ago. Just a few months ago, he spoke about getting banks to share private citizens’ data to predict homelessness and/or illegally monitor people living paycheck to paycheck. Instead of using Homewards to scale up in an intelligent way, William has treated this small program like it’s a one-and-done thing for him. Remember this the next time William drapes himself in his “homeless savior” cloak.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Kensington Palace’s Instagram.