UK: Prince William Launches Homelessness Project

Facts

Prince William has launched a five-year project to reduce homelessness in the UK. The project, called "Homewards," comes as approximately 300K people — with nearly half being children — find themselves homeless each night in the UK.¹
The project is aimed at bringing together organizations and individuals to form local solutions to homelessness. While acknowledging that the issue was a "big task," Prince William cited Finland as evidence that a solution for homelessness could be found, and homelessness could be reduced to being a "rare, brief, and unrepeated" experience.²
Homewards will be funded by the Princes' Royal Foundation, which will be donating £3M (US$3.8M) towards the project. The project will focus on six areas of the UK over the next five years, to create practical solutions that can later be applied to all areas of the country.³
An Ipsos survey commissioned by the Royal Foundation in May this year found that 72% of the 3,473 adults questioned believed homelessness had become more severe in the last 12 months, with 73% saying that the issue wasn't given enough societal attention.^[4]
Each location of focus will receive up to £500M ($636M) of funding to allow them to deliver an action plan, created in conjunction with local homelessness organizations and an independent research partner.⁵
National charities will be involved as sector partners, as well as those with lived experience in homelessness or extensive background in the sector.⁵

Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Independent. Although some questions have been raised over a potential overstepping into politics, the Prince of Wales's project will inevitably sit well within the "Overton Window" of acceptability by the public. At the heart of the plan is a good man, with a sense of duty, wishing to give back to the UK. It's only right to wish anyone who is aiming at making such an impact on society luck in their endeavors.
Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Thaiger. William's project is yet another example of the fundamental issues with British society. Although William is right to state homelessness should not exist in the UK, there's a deep sense of irony with the message coming from the voice of a billionaire prince who receives the British public's money. The UK could, if they wanted to, already eradicate the issue in a heartbeat. The sad reality is that the establishment and its status quo hold little interest in eradicating poverty.