The Prince of Wales has said homelessness is “a systemic failure” as he called for better approaches to help prevent it during a visit to central London.
William insisted there needs to be “a shift in how we see homelessness” during an event at the Tate Modern on Tuesday held to mark the third anniversary of his project.
Launched in 2023, the prince’s ambitious Homewards initiative is a five-year project aimed at making homelessness “rare, brief and unrepeated”.
Homewards works in six locations – Newport, Lambeth, Belfast, Aberdeen, Sheffield and the three neighbouring Dorset towns of Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch – with the aim of delivering bespoke solutions to homelessness issues in each area.
In a speech at the Tate, William said the initiative has helped 73 individuals and families into stable housing, supported more than people 250 into work and reached out to thousands “to reduce their risk of falling into crisis”.
He said: “These aren’t just statistics, they are people who have a home, a job and a future that are very different to only a few years ago.
“Crucially, people are being supported earlier, in schools, in the workplace, in their communities, so homelessness never becomes part of their story.”
He added: “All of this shows that prevention works when responsibility is shared, when businesses support their employees through difficult moments, when teachers educate students on housing rights, when key community touch points have the tools and knowledge to direct people to support.
“At the heart of this is a shift in how we see homelessness, because homelessness is not an individual failure, it is a systemic failure.
“And if systems can help create a problem, systems can help prevent it.
“It is clear that Homewards is changing lives and now imagine the scale we could achieve if our approach was adopted in every corner of the country.”
During the event at the art gallery, William met individuals, organisations and businesses involved in Homewards to celebrate its progress, including broadcaster and DJ Dean McCullough.
After McCullough introduced his mother to the prince, the group discussed the broadcaster’s own experience with homelessness in his childhood and how “proud” he is to be an ambassador for youth homelessness charity Centrepoint.
The prince also talked with Baroness Louise Casey, who has worked on homelessness in government for many years, about the “systemic changes” needed to address the issue across the country.
William was then shown a timeline of the key moments of his work on homelessness and the story of Homewards, painted on a wall by artist Myro Doodles.
This included his first visit with his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, to the London-based homelessness charity The Passage, as well as the first time he went there again with his eldest son Prince George in late 2025.
After signing the mural near the drawing depicting this later visit, William joked with Ms Doodles “you’ll soon need a longer wall, hopefully”.
During the past three years, Homewards has invested £1.9 million across its six locations through the Homewards Fund, with another £3.5 million leveraged through grants and private philanthropy, organisers have said.
A further £2.3 million worth of surplus goods has been used to furnish Homewards homes. In Aberdeen alone, 31 people are now living in homes created through the programme.
The prince said he will visit one of the homes and see the initiative’s work “in action” in Aberdeen on Tuesday afternoon.
He added: “The next two years are about proving that what works in six locations can work across the country, because if homelessness can be prevented here, it can be prevented anywhere.
“And together one day we can make homelessness rare, brief and unrepeated.
“That is the challenge we set ourselves three years ago. Today we can see the path to achieve it.”
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