Prince William back to work on homelessness project

The Prince of Wales will visit housing initiatives in Sheffield on Tuesday to promote his homelessness scheme.

It comes after a week in which Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, were the subject of conspiracy theories after the controversy over an edited Mother’s Day picture.

Now the prince will hope the focus will return to one of his personal causes, the Homewards homelessness project.

The visit to Sheffield will see DIY chain Homebase pledging £1m in support.

The prince and princess have had a difficult start to the year, with Catherine having surgery and spending time in recovery.

There was confusion over the first authorised photograph of the princess since Christmas, which was withdrawn by photo agencies following concerns it had been digitally altered.

On Monday night, the Sun and other newspapers published a photo, taken from a video clip supplied by a member of the public, of the royal couple looking relaxed and happy at a farm shop in Windsor, the first such sighting in weeks.

This week, Prince William will want the emphasis to be on one of his most important projects – an ambitious five-year scheme to tackle homelessness based at six location around the UK and launched last year.

That includes Sheffield, where the prince will meet people who have faced housing insecurity and hear about some of the projects addressing what seems to be a worsening problem.

This is his “flagship project” and he takes a close personal interest in how its local partnerships are developing, a royal source says.

To coincide with the visit, the Homebase group is donating 1,500 “starter packs” of furniture, paint and other items to help families moving into new accommodation.

Helping to organise the packs will be housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa, who said: “Safe, permanent and secure housing is paramount to ensure homelessness does not become part of a family’s story.”

Making families feel comfortable and “supporting their wellbeing” was also proven to reduce future homelessness.

The prince’s visit will also see support from some of the Sheffield’s landlords, with 33 three and four-bedroom properties being made available for “families on the brink of or experiencing homelessness”.

The approach of the Homewards project is to bring together grassroots organisations, charities and commercial partners to form local coalitions.

The scale of the problem in Sheffield was highlighted by annual figures showing 4,000 people or families had applied to be registered as homeless, the council’s highest figure so far and up 500 on the previous year.

Last month, the government announced £3m in funding for Sheffield City Council to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness.