Can Prince William navigate politics and privilege to cut homelessness?on June 26, 2023 at 4:28 pm

There are some big challenges facing Prince William’s ambitious plans to help cut homelessness.

It is not just the practical questions of raising funds and building thousands of extra housing units and support services.

Let’s be honest, there will be some cynicism about a wealthy landowner, with several properties, calling on others to tackle homelessness.

Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, called it “crass and hypocritical of William to get involved in this issue, given the excessive wealth we gift him”.

Prince William’s team is fully aware of such criticism.

But their argument is that the Prince of Wales is putting his privileged position to good purposes, using his high profile to energise this campaign.

Homelessness has been an issue in which the prince has been personally engaged for many years. His mother Princess Diana brought him on visits to meet those in need of help and he has been an active patron of charities such as Centrepoint and The Passage.

Launching the initiative at a project in Bournemouth, the prince had an easy rapport with people talking about their experiences of homelessness – in a way that seemed to surprise them.

They spoke afterwards about how unexpectedly relaxed and down to earth he had seemed – talking with them about homelessness in terms of the human impact on self-esteem and isolation.

Now Prince William wants to take his campaigning a step further, to turn words into action, with a much more interventionist plan to create extra housing and measurably cut homelessness over the next five years.

This Homewards project is also part of a wider, behind-the-scenes modernising shift for Prince William and Catherine, where the emphasis will be on making a real impact.

They want to leave a long-lasting legacy, not just stories about what fashion outfits they were wearing. They want to focus on public service as well as being public spectacles.

In terms of the scale of the ambition, historian Sir Anthony Seldon says: “This is as significant an intervention as any single intervention made by his father when Prince of Wales.”

But Sir Anthony says it means getting involved in areas “normally reserved just for elected politicians”.

Being accused of meddling in politics is an occupational hazard for any Prince of Wales.

And any involvement in addressing a shortage of affordable housing is inescapably political, not least when there is so much anxiety about rising rents and mortgage costs.

But being accused of being a bit too political might not actually be a bad thing, according to royal author Prof Pauline Maclaran, particularly for a younger generation.

“The real risk is being irrelevant,” says Prof Maclaran.

“Prince William needs to resonate with young people. He has to do more than cut ribbons and smile and wave. He needs to give back to the public,” she says.

In that respect, being seen as pushing the boundaries and fighting a cause will be seen as a positive benefit, says Prof Maclaran of Royal Holloway, University of London.

Prince Harry has his own public cause in taking on the tabloid press, so now Prince William will be out there fighting homelessness.

But Prof Maclaran says a key to its credibility will be showing that he has made a personal contribution.

The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales is initially providing £3m – with £500,000 seed funding for initiatives in six locations.

For building projects, that would not go very far. The restoration project at Buckingham Palace alone has a budget of £369m.

There were also reports of plans for social housing on Prince William’s Duchy of Cornwall land, but nothing has been confirmed.

In terms of the demand, there are 300,000 homeless according to the prince’s project, and councils in England say they have 1.2 million people on housing waiting lists.

But if much more money will have to be raised to make an impact, that means more deals will have to be struck, and with that comes reputational risks.

When the royal world collides with the real world, it can get complicated. People donating money, or wanting to buy into the project, will have their own agenda.

Opening housing developments will also mean more accountability if there are problems. And it will invite more scrutiny. People might contrast calls for more social housing with the Duchy of Cornwall advertising luxury holiday cottages, sometimes for more than £3,000 per week.

Taking a long-term view, historian Prof Heather Jones says previous Princes of Wales have faced similar pressures about getting too political – and in practice the public tends to be sympathetic.

“The British public historically have taken well to royals pushing the boundaries when it comes to the charitable causes they promote,” says Prof Jones, from University College London.

King Charles III was once seen as overstepping his role with his campaigns for the environment, but his arguments now seem quite mainstream.

Prof Jones says there is a long history of royal involvement in improving housing going back to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Recent opinion polling by Ipsos also found people are much less bothered about the convention of royal neutrality than might be expected.

Prince William’s project is only just starting. But a much tougher longer-term question will be to see if it has really worked. Has homelessness been reduced?

Ligia Teixeira, chief executive of the Centre for Homelessness Impact, welcomes the prince’s support but highlights “deep-rooted problems such as longstanding shortfalls in the supply of affordable housing, economic inequality and migration trends”.

“Ending homelessness for good is not rocket science. The evidence shows it’s harder than that,” she says.

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