Prince Williams Homewards scheme blasted by homelessness experts

On Monday, Prince William “launched” Homewards, his new homelessness program. Kensington Palace has been blanketing the British media with grandiose talking points about how William is the “heart and soul” of this homelessness program and he’s “personally” funding a program with the goal to “end homelessness.” When you look past the entirely Peg-centered narrative, Homewards sounds less like a groundbreaking initiative and more like the Royal Foundation simply throwing £3 million at the problem and expecting other people to solve it in William’s name. Nevermind the fact that actual homelessness experts are also wary of this entire f–king scheme. Yahoo UK had more details about how Homewards is structured, as well as criticism for William’s whole mindset:

Homewards will see Prince William and the Royal Foundation partner with six different locations across the UK to show that ending homelessness is possible. He then aims to scale this model up throughout the country and beyond in the long term. Each location will receive up to £500,000 of seed funding to allow them to deliver an action plan, created in conjunction with homelessness organisations and an independent research partner.

National charities like Crisis will be closely involved as sector partners, as well as those with lived experience of homelessness or those who have worked in the sector for a long time and companies like NatWest, Ikea and the Duchy of Cornwall will provide resources and investment into implementing the action plans and provide solutions to ending homelessness.

Prince William said: “Everyone should have a safe and secure home, be treated with dignity and given the support they need. Through Homewards, I want to make this a reality and over the next five years, give people across the UK hope that homelessness can be prevented when we collaborate. It’s a big task, but I firmly believe that by working together it is possible to make homelessness rare, brief, and unrepeated.”

William’s plans have been criticised by anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, who branded the announcement “performative”, adding: “Homelessness is a political issue that needs a government response. The royals spend hundreds of millions a year on themselves. Until they sort that out this kind of thing is hypocritical nonsense. As with Earthshot, this is a small project blown out of proportion by palace PR and the media. It will not tackle homelessness.”

Some have also noted that “ending homelessness” should remain firmly in the purview of the government, rather than becoming increasingly the responsibility of the philanthropic sector. Dr. Ed Owens, a royal commentator and historian, said the royal family has previously involved itself in the issue, including as far back as the 1850s when Prince Albert tried to improve the quality of workers’ housing.

But, he warned: “The impact of this kind of royal philanthropy is also more complex than it at first seems. Whilst on the surface William’s plans seem admirable, they are also profoundly political and speak to much deeper failings within Britain to properly address the social ill of homelessness. By ‘capturing’ this issue as an area where royalty is legitimately able to take a lead in offering solutions, the monarchy is working to transform homelessness from an issue that was once the responsibility of government to something that will instead increasingly be the focus of philanthropists, voluntarist groups and the private sector.”

Lawyer and broadcaster Chris Daw said: “I have enormous respect for Prince William’s commitment to the homeless but the truth is that nothing will change for them. Until the government changes.”

[From Yahoo]

Republic’s statement is much more concise than I managed: “As with Earthshot, this is a small project blown out of proportion by palace PR and the media.” That’s exactly what happened. But it’s William blowing the whole thing out of proportion by making these wildly grandiose statements and centering himself as the sole savior of homeless people. What’s happening is that six different “locations” will get £500,000 each, and they have to use that money under strict guidelines from the Royal Foundation, Crisis, Centrepoint and various existing homeless charities, and how will that guidance be applied? Is the money actually going towards building another layer of bureaucracy?

Here’s my constant question when it comes to William and Kate’s busy work – would it not be smarter to simply give the money to charity partners so that the charity can administer the funds how they see fit? Of course not – because it’s not enough that William is donating money (through his foundation), he also has to be seen as a credible expert in the field, that he alone worked out this brilliant scheme to end homelessness. Same with Kate and her Early Years crap – for all of the time, energy and pie charts her staff has dedicated to making Kate look like a credible Early Years expert, they probably should have just partnered with some charities doing good work, and made Kate attend some fundraisers (or even, gasp, host some fundraisers).

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

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