Prince William’s five-year programme to demonstrate that together it is possible to end homelessness, marking a year of progress across its six locations, including Newport.
Over the past year, Homewards has been working with Newport, as well as the programme’s five other locations (Aberdeen; Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole; Lambeth; Northern Ireland and Sheffield) to form coalitions which will drive the project forward locally and build action plans to put each location on a trajectory to end homelessness.
In Newport, substantial work has taken place to identify emerging priorities vital to ending local homelessness and to lay the foundations, setting the area up for success by:
Forming a strong local coalition:
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- The local coalition in Newport comprises 63 organisations and individuals.
- Homewards has expanded the network of local businesses and organisations working together on homelessness. Members include Newport City Council and Mercure.
Identifying emerging focus areas:
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- Newport will look at employment and skills pathways and better use of data, alongside working with a few specific high-risk groups.
- Each location is also developing an Innovative Housing Project which will test new ways to unlock homes at scale for those who already experience, or who are on the brink of experiencing homelessness. The Innovative Housing Project in Newport will support families in temporary accommodation.
Securing unprecedented partnerships:
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- Homewards has formed strong local partnerships and brought in major local businesses like hotel group Mercure to join the coalition. Many of these partners are engaging with the issue of homelessness for the first time.
- New opportunities are being planned with a local construction company providing training and paid jobs for people with lived experience.
Generating systems change:
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- Homewards has carried out significant work in its first year to shift mindsets around homelessness in Newport, delivering training on trauma-informed support for 100+ of those working on the front line of homelessness.
- The coalition has also spotlighted the power of support and community. A homelessness football tournament is being planned for later this year for people with lived experience to spotlight their role in driving change.
Working to change the narrative:
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- Homewards is focused on improving understanding about the different forms of homelessness, shifting perceptions and boosting optimism that homelessness can be ended. Communications professionals are working collaboratively across all six locations on a strategy to reframe damaging negative perceptions of homelessness.
- Homewards will soon launch an exhibition with the Saatchi Gallery, which will include pieces created by children and young people at a series of creative workshops held across the six flagship Homewards locations, including Newport.
- Homewards’ six flagship locations will also feature in an exclusive two-part ITV documentary series which explores homelessness in the UK today and follows the first year of the Homewards programme.
“Over the last year we have been working in partnership with six locations across the UK, bringing people and organisations together to create the foundations on which to build long-term change. Inspired by our belief that is possible to end homelessness, we are already demonstrating what can be achieved if we all work together. We are immensely grateful to the committed people, organisations and businesses who are working with us to prove homelessness can be prevented and solutions found.”
-Amanda Berry OBE, CEO, The Royal Foundation
As the programme moves into its second year, the Homewards Coalition in Newport will focus on turning collaboration into action, as they publish and begin delivering their action plans to show that it is possible to end homelessness.
To mark the first year of progress, Prince William is attending a special Homewards event in Lambeth, one of the six flagship Homewards locations. Today’s event will bring together representatives from the six locations, including Newport, as well as individuals from across the wider homelessness and private sectors. Prince William will hear about the work of each of the six locations before delivering a short speech in which he will thank partners of the programme.
Local representatives from the Homewards Newport Coalition who are attending today’s event include Debra Richards, Director of Communications and Development for Cyfannol Women’s Aid; Amy Jones, Exploitation Service Manager for Cyfannol Women’s Aid; Bevleigh Evans, Deputy Director of Population Health at NHS Wales, Maria Jones of Barnardos; Annie Butler, a Lived Experience representative; and Samantha Howells, Area Regeneration Manager at Pobl Housing Group.
The event will also be attended by Homewards advocate Sabrina Cohen-Hatton. Sabrina has lived experience of homelessness on the streets on Newport when she was a teenager. She is now a neuroscientist and one of the most senior woman fire officers in the world.
