Prince William’s five-year programme to demonstrate that together it is possible to end homelessness is today marking a year of progress across its six locations, including Sheffield.
Over the past year, Homewards has been working with Sheffield, as well as the programme’s five other locations (Aberdeen; Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole; Lambeth; Newport and Northern Ireland) 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 Sheffield, 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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- Homewards Sheffield Coalition comprises 64 organisations and individuals.
- Members include the local council, healthcare providers, mental health services, experts by experience, as well as the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, and many local business and dynamic community organisations, coming together in a collaborative effort to demonstrate that it is possible to end homelessness in the local area.
- The coalition also has significant representation from those with lived experience.
Identifying emerging focus areas:
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- Homewards Sheffield intends to explore how to prevent young people and families from experiencing homelessness and drive greater access to housing with grassroots community groups at the heart of that work.
- Each location is also developing an Innovative Housing Project which will test new ways to unlock homes at scale. In Sheffield, as announced, The Innovative Housing Project will work with landlords to unlock an initial 33 three and four-bedroom properties for families on the brink of or experiencing homelessness in Sheffield.
Securing unprecedented partnerships:
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- The roundtable convened by Prince William in March this year has led to new connections being made and further conversations about increasing the housing supply in Sheffield and beyond.
Generating systems change:
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- The work of Homewards in Sheffield has been particularly driven by grassroots community organisations and those with lived experience.
- Working to change the narrative:
- 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 Sheffield.
- 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 Sheffield 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 Sheffield, 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 Sheffield Coalition who are attending today’s event include: Martin McKervey, Chair of Sheffield Property Association; David Bussue, CEO of SACHMA; Alex Cook, Operations and Development Manager for Sheffield City Council; Tim Renshaw, CEO of The Archer Project; Safiya Sayeed, Founder and CEO of Reach Up Youth; Nilam Buchanan, Regional Managing Director of Places for People; and Blessan Babu, Delivery and Advocacy Manager for Sheffield Project for Refugee Integration and Growth (SPRING) at City of Sanctuary.
