Prince William will today announce he is more convinced than ever that homelessness can be eradicated for good.
He is marking one year of his £3million Homewards project to end the scourge of rough and itinerant sleeping, ‘sofa surfing’ and substandard temporary family accommodation in six key locations around the country.
The future king will give a speech, saying: ‘Homelessness is a complex society issue, and one that touches the lives of far too many people in our society. However, I truly believe that it can be ended.’
The heir to the throne launched his most ambitious public project to date last year, inspired by the legacy of his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, who began taking him to shelters as a young child.
Homelessness has soared in recent years with 100,000 families in temporary accommodation – affecting 144,000 children – and almost 4,000 people sleeping rough every night.
But those looking to tackle it believe it can be combatted with a joined-up approach that stops people and families falling through the net in the first place.
Prince William will today announce he is more convinced than ever that homelessness can be eradicated for good. Above: The Prince of Wales with footballer Tyrone Mings, firefighter Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, TV personality Gail Porter and enterpreneur David Duke ahead of the launch of Homeward last year
Prince William’s visit to homeless charity The Passage with his mother as a child had a ‘powerful impact’ on him, his spokesman said. Above: William with his brother Prince Harry and mother Princess Diana visiting The Passage in the early 1990s
Over the last 12 months William has brought together local coalitions in Aberdeen, Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole, Lambeth, Newport, Northern Ireland and Sheffield.
Private landlords and local authorities, builders, charities and churches, as well as leading firms such as Homebase are working together for the first time.
Already a pipeline of almost 100 homes for those currently, or about to experience, homelessness has been delivered, as well as a £1million donation of home starter packs and 500 jobs with Pret A Manger.
Each location is now looking to unlock homes at scale.
The prince will also unveil one of his new ‘ambassadors’, Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, who went from sleeping rough at 15 after family tragedy and breakdown to becoming Chief Fire Officer of West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service.
Ms Cohen-Hatton, 41, now also has a 14-year-old daughter, a doctorate and honorary fellowship at Cardiff University in behavioural neuroscience.
She found herself alone on the streets of Newport after losing her father to a brain tumour at the age of nine, which led to her mother suffering mental health issues and living in ‘abject poverty’.
She says it was difficult for her to access help and she was forced to live with constant threats and violence on the streets, albeit with the help of her devoted dog, Menace.
‘When you don’t have enough to eat, let alone to think, it is hard to reach out and take those services, ‘ she said.
‘When you have someone who loves you very deeply but doesn’t have the physical or mental resources to look after you, you are raised to treat any kind of authority figure with mistrust. You are desperately trying to hold it together.
‘I carried the stigma with me every day.’
She finally sought help at 17 and started selling The Big Issue.
‘I credit with them for saving my life,’ she said.
‘It enabled me to have some agency, gave me self-respect and enabled me to save enough money eventually to get some secure accommodation. I then started to have the confidence about what else could become a reality. ‘
She joined the South Wales Fire Service at 18, and has risen through the ranks over the last two decades.
‘They saw past what on paper didn’t look a good prospect. They took me on the strength of what they believed I could be,’ Ms Cohen-Hatton said.
‘That public service gave me social mobility that I had only ever dreamed of. I now have a home, a family and a PhD
‘People shouldn’t be written off.’
Ms Cohen-Hatton, who has visited William at Windsor with others experiencing homelessness, says she can’t praise the prince enough for what he is doing with Homewards.
She said: ‘The realisation that I could do something to end homeless that was an amazing privilege.
‘What I have seen first-hand over the last year is the convening power the prince has.
The prince will also unveil one of his new ‘ambassadors’, Sabrina Cohen-Hatton (above centre, working at a Homewards project), who went from sleeping rough at 15 after family tragedy and breakdown to becoming Chief Fire Officer of West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service
Ms Cohen-Hatton, who has visited William at Windsor with others experiencing homelessness, says she can’t praise the prince enough for what he is doing with Homewards
Ms Cohen-Hatton joined the South Wales Fire Service at 18, and has risen through the ranks over the last two decades
Prince William and Centrepoint CEO Seyi Obakin prepare for a night in freezing temperatures in 2009
Prince William pictured with Big Issue vendor Dave Martin in 2022, when he first went out to do his bit to help the homeless by selling the magazine
Prince William helping to prepare lunch for the homeless at the base of charity The Passage, February 2019
Prince William serves a meal during his visit to homelessness charity The Passage in 2019
William has been involved with several organisations working in the field ever since, including Centrepoint and The Big Issue. Pictured: Opening the Centrepoint Helpline in 2017
‘He is getting people sat around the table who have access to things that can be used as the solution.
‘These people would not ordinarily be sat around together. That is extraordinarily powerful.
‘It is going to take time, but it will only happen when people work together and that is what the prince is doing.
‘These solutions will stop people like me falling through the system so quickly.
‘What the prince is doing through Homewards is really challenging the way people think about homelessness.
‘One thing the prince really does know is trauma and about coming through it. The empathy and the compassion he has is admirable. ‘
A spokesman said the prince’s visits to homeless charity The Passage with his mother as a child had a ‘powerful impact’ on him and he had been ‘hands-on’ throughout the last year, despite his own personal difficulties with his wife and father’s respective cancer battles.
They added: ‘He knows this is an issue that is far too present in our society but he also firmly believes that change is possible.
‘He wants to demonstrate that homelessness is not inevitable and if we all come together it is possible for it to be ended.
‘Through Homewards he wants to create a model that can be replicated and scaled and tackle the issue at source.’