The Prince of Wales today (27 June) visited Tillydrone Community Campus to launch Homewards – a programme that will demonstrate it is possible to end homelessness, making it rare, brief, and unrepeated.
Aberdeen is the only Scottish location whose bid was successful for the project, and it has been chosen by The Royal Foundation alongside five other UK locations which so far include Northern Ireland, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Lambeth in London, Newport, with the final location unveiled today.
Over the next five years, Homewards aims to give these six flagship locations new space, tools, and relationships to showcase what can be achieved through a collective effort focused on preventing and ending homelessness in their areas.
Prince William met members of Homewards’ initial local coalition including Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen Foyer, Turning Point Scotland, and Centre for Homelessness Impact, as together they start on the path towards ending homelessness in Aberdeen.
Homewards will support Aberdeen develop this coalition further, to include a range of committed individuals, organisations, and businesses locally and nationally who will work together to create and deliver a plan to prevent and end homelessness in Aberdeen.
He also met local residents who have experienced homelessness, to hear first-hand their experiences and how joined up community support services such as the Tillydrone Campus are vital to preventing homelessness in communities.
Lord-Lieutenant Dr David Cameron, who accompanied Prince William during his visit, said: “We are honoured that our city has been selected as one of only six Homewards locations that will demonstrate, over the next five years, that together homelessness can be ended. We are excited about how this unprecedented and invaluable project can build on local homelessness initiatives to achieve that goal.
“I was honoured to welcome Prince William to Tillydrone Community Campus today to meet with local residents who will ultimately benefit from The Royal Foundation’s Homewards project over the next five years.”
Angela Scott, Chief Executive of Aberdeen City Council, said: “I am delighted that today Aberdeen commits to showing it is possible to end homelessness by joining this transformative project. We are excited to be the only Scottish location and to help lead the journey to ending homelessness here and across the UK.
“Through the programme we will aim to achieve a greater understanding of homelessness within Aberdeen from both residents and professionals’ perspectives, which will help to break down barriers and ensure there is a willingness to have discussions about housing difficulty.”
Amanda Berry OBE, CEO of The Royal Foundation, said: “Homelessness is a societal issue and requires a societal response. By joining Homewards, Aberdeen underlines its determination to prevent and end homelessness in all its forms. We are looking forward to supporting Aberdeen over the next five years to do just that, helping to introduce new partners and create and deliver action plans so that together we can demonstrate that it is possible to end homelessness.”