Prince William Hails 'Powerful' Work of His Mission for the Unhoused at Special Event in London

The Prince of Wales is marking the one-year anniversary of his five-year campaign called Homewards

• Prince William celebrated the one-year mark of his Homewards mission to help the unhoused at a special event in Lambeth, south London on Thursday, July 11

• "I created Homewards because I wanted us to look at the issue of homelessness through a different lens," William said on Thursday

• Lambeth is joined by Sheffield, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in England, Newport in Wales, Aberdeen in Scotland and Northern Ireland as the flagship areas for his mission

Prince William is celebrating the one-year mark of his mission to help the unhoused.

The Prince of Wales, 42, hailed the work being done around the U.K. to help those without homes in a speech in London on July 11.

Visiting Lambeth in south London, which is one of six areas where his Homewards project is being run, he said, “Homelessness is a complex societal issue, and one that touches the lives of far too many people in our society. However, I truly believe that it can be ended."

"I created Homewards because I wanted us to look at the issue of homelessness through a different lens: to inspire a movement to prevent people from ever experiencing homelessness in the first place," he continued.

"I know this will take a huge effort. And I know that demonstrating that homelessness is not an inevitable part of our society will take time. I have though, been struck by the scale of the work that has been carried out since the launch of Homewards and I hope it is a powerful reminder to everyone of what can be achieved when we work together towards a shared goal."

Related: Prince William 'Knows Trauma' and Has 'Compassion' for the Unhoused, Campaigner Says

The event brought together people from the six key places of the United Kingdom where plans are being put into place to tackle the issue. Since Homewards launch last June, each area has had different challenges and is targeting its help accordingly.

Lambeth is joined by Sheffield, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in England, Newport in Wales, Aberdeen in Scotland and Northern Ireland as the flagship areas for his mission. In each location, a coalition is tasked with finding answers that can be scaled up to be taken elsewhere around the U.K.

"Over the past twelve months, across our six locations an incredible amount of work has been done to build the foundations for success," William continued on Thursday.

"Coalitions have been built, bringing together over 500 individuals and organizations who are setting ambitious priorities and co-developing new ways of addressing homelessness, that are local, relevant and collaborative — something that has never been done before on this scale."

"Eleven industry leading companies have joined our mission — providing in-kind support and expertise to support our six locations," he added. "To them, I say thank you. To those who are not yet involved, I urge you to come and join us on this journey."

"Already, a pipeline of nearly 100 homes is being established through the innovative housing projects which will be developed in each location – and believe me – my ambitions alone mean there will be so many more!"

"The ideas and approaches that our coalitions are developing will have the power to inspire change across the UK and beyond."

At the event in Lambeth on July 11, the prince spent time getting updates on the ambitious program hearing about the work they have done over the past twelve months and how they are taking the project forwards.

He also took in a panel discussion chat between Homewards advocate, Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, and Chris Lynam, a lived experience advocate from the Sheffield coalition, which highlighted the importance of individuals with lived experience informing new solutions to homelessness.

Related: Prince William Secretly Sells Magazines on the Streets of London to Help the Homeless

On the eve of the visit, Hatton-Cohen spoke of William's deep empathy for those who have struggled. She recently spent time with the Prince of Wales, 42, at Windsor, introducing a longtime rough sleeper to him as an advocate and supporter of William's Homewards program.

"One thing that the prince does know is trauma. You really see that coming through with the empathy and the compassion that he had when talking to those who’ve previously experienced homelessness," she says.

"One thing that I noticed is that he is really, really passionate about the human impact of this," Cohen-Hatton adds. "He doesn’t see [Homewards] as something to be the figurehead of, he really cares about the impact on people. I was really taken by how powerfully he wanted to help."

She praised the prince's convening power at uniting people who would not ordinarily sit across the table from each other. He "is the conductor that said we are going to close that sliding door so we can walk through this one. That is incredible.," she said.

William's ambitious five-year project aims to make homelessness "rare, brief and unrepeated." The royal heir has been committed to the cause since he started his public life after university and was inspired by his late mother, Princess Diana, who took him and his brother, Prince Harry, to shelters, adopting Centrepoint was one of his first patronages.

Homewards also hopes to change the narrative around the issue, helping remove the stigma. To that end, Prince William is set to appear in a two-part ITV documentary on the subject and a new exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London will highlight the issue.

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After laying the groundwork over this last year, "unprecedented levels of coalitions" have been created in each of the six areas, Liz Laurence, program director of Homewards at the Royal Foundation, said in a briefing on the initial 12 months this week. There are 11 industry-leading companies who provide expertise and support and the next step is to shift towards prevention in each of the areas.

Matt Downie, chief executive of the charity Crisis, which is partnering with Homewards said in a statement, "Homewards has already established strong foundations, forming wide-ranging local groups of organizations and individuals and focusing minds on measures to prevent people from becoming homeless. Crucially, Homewards has sought to put people with lived experience at the heart of its work."

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