News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 17th October 2024
In a program that will air later this month, Prince William discussed his efforts to eradicate homelessness and stated that one of his responsibilities as the heir apparent to the British monarchy is to attempt to assist those in need. William, the 42-year-old eldest son of King Charles, announced the five-year initiative “Homewards” in June. He said that his late mother, Princess Diana, had warned him of the crisis when he was a little boy.
“I think everyone having a right to a safe and stable home benefits us all,” the royal says in an extract from the ITV documentary, “Prince William: We Can End Homelessness”, released on Wednesday. “I come with no other agenda than desperately trying to help people who are in need, and I see that as part of my role.”
For someone with William’s wealth and numerous mansions to be discussing fighting the problem has been criticized as being hypocritical.”Why else would I be here if I’m not using this role properly to influence and help people where I can?” was William’s response when asked if he was the best candidate to head the project. And while I enjoy a good challenge, I am unable to do it by myself.
William claimed that his mother’s visits to homeless shelters, the first of which he made when he was eleven years old, had had a profound and enduring impact on him when he founded Homewards.
He raised awareness of the issue by sleeping on the streets for a winter’s night in 2009, and in 2022, he was seen peddling copies of the “Big Issue” magazine—a publication typically peddled by the homeless—on London’s streets. His program operates in six different areas throughout the United Kingdom with the goal of identifying and creating novel solutions that could eventually be applied to eradicate homelessness nationwide. Later on Wednesday, William will assist in presenting prizes for Centrepoint, a youth homelessness charity that he supports, honoring individuals who have overcome homelessness.
