The Prince of Wales is changing people’s view of homelessness the way his mother did for Aids and landmines, former prime minister Gordon Brown has said.
Heir to the throne William appeared on a discussion panel with Mr Brown and entrepreneur Steven Bartlett to mark the second anniversary of his homelessness initiative Homewards.
After the event in Sheffield, Mr Brown said the prince had been “very influenced by his mother about this (issue)”.
He said William’s late mother Diana, Princess of Wales, “encouraged him to take an interest in why people were on the streets, and why people were homeless, and why people needed a better chance”.
He told reporters: “I think he’s changing people’s view of homelessness and what can be done about it.
“Remember, his mother changed people’s views on Aids, his mother changed people’s views on landmines, and I think he’s changing people’s view that you’ve got to think of a homeless person as an individual who has potential – who if given the proper chance, can actually make something of their lives, and not as someone to be discounted as a down-and-out.”
Mr Brown went on to say: “I think his focus on the causes of homelessness and then on how to prevent it, and then on building the partnerships, that’s really the way forward.
“He has got this huge convening power… so I think we’re going to see something quite big here.
“The whole country should feel proud of what he’s doing.”
The former Prime Minister said the current Government has “inherited what I would call a generation of austerity’s children” adding, “That’s children who’ve been brought up in the last 15 years and who haven’t had the chances that they deserve, and that’s why the education police but also the Child Poverty Review that is still to report, is going to do something about that.
“I do think we’re seeing a change but, as the Government itself says, people need to feel that change.”
The five-year campaign is a major long-term focus for William, who has told of how visiting shelters with his late mother when he was a child left a deep and lasting impression and inspired his work.
During the on-stage discussion in Sheffield on Tuesday, William said part of Homewards’s aim was to “change the narrative around what homelessness is” and the fact that “homelessness is always about housing, but it’s not just about housing”.
The prince said the initiative also looked at employment opportunities for people who “have found themselves, for many reasons, not through their own making, outside of society”.
William told audience members: “You are literally excluded from society unless somebody comes along with a good-natured heart and goes ‘I’ll give you a chance’.
“If we wait for that to happen, it’s going to take a very long time to fix the problem.
“There are a lot of good-natured people in this world, but it’s hard for them to all make those connections.”
William has said Homewards is now in “delivery mode,” with more than 100 initiatives in place across six locations around the UK, and some 300 homes – a mixture of empty accommodation, private rentals and new builds – forecast to be delivered through its Innovative Housing Projects.
The first residents moved into flats in Aberdeen in March after Homewards brought together a local housing association, high street retailers and others to provide and furnish the property, and the first tenants in Sheffield are moving in this week.
Two years in, the project has also launched a new early intervention initiative in schools to identify young people most at risk of homelessness.
The Prince shook hands with hundreds of pupils at Meadowhead School and Sixth Form, which is taking part in a project to intervene early before homelessness sets in.
The school, the second-largest in Sheffield, is piloting the Upstream project, which is led by Homewards.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, whose mother Clare set up the domestic violence charity Wearside Women in Need, was on site to greet the prince and joined him for a roundtable about Upstream.
William also joined an awareness workshop led by Roundabout, a local youth homelessness charity, with a class of Year 9 pupils.
Throughout the school visit, William was cheered by hundreds of flag-waving pupils, many of whom looked delighted when they got to shake his hand.
Afterwards, school head Kam Grewal-Joy said: “We were not expecting that he would take so much time with the pupils.
“It was amazing, he shook hands and spent time with so many of them, it meant a lot to our school community.”
The diverse school of around 2,000 pupils teaches children from around 50 different countries.
