The Prince of Wales has announced that homelessness will be his charitable focus while he awaits his eventual succession to the Crown. In an announcement this week, he pledged £3 million as the start of a lifelong commitment to tackling the issue, which will begin by funding ‘housing first’ schemes in six areas, taking the lead from Scandinavian approaches which aim to stop people falling between the cracks and sort them with accommodation before focusing on other issues in their life.
There is a danger of being another wealthy man throwing money at a problem that others have already found impossible to solve
It is a sensible choice for the Prince. Stopping rough sleeping and other forms of homelessness, such as temporary and unsuitable housing, is a fairly uncontroversial cause which is unlikely to bring him into conflict with his father’s government. It also links nicely to his mother’s legacy – she first took him and Prince Harry to meet the homeless when they were in prep school.
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