Prince William believes homelessness can be ended

Prince William "truly" believes homelessness can be "ended".

The Prince of Wales will mark the first year of his Homewards campaign to eradicate the problem on Thursday (July 11) with a report on its progress in building community links to make it a "rare, brief and unrepeated" experience.

According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, William will say at an event in London: "Homelessness is a complex societal issue and one that touches the lives of far too many people in our society. However, I truly believe that it can be ended."

William will acknowledge homelessness blights the lives of "far too many people" and declare he wants to "demonstrate that it is possible to end homelessness".

The 42-year-old royal recently invited members of the public who have had "lived experience" of homelessness to Windsor to hear more about what needs to be done to help.

The Homewards project is working in six UK locations as a joint effort between the public, private and charity sectors to identify the causes of homelessness and make headway in eradicating it in five years.

Matt Downie, CEO of homeless charity Crisis, which is involved in the initiative, said: "The question isn't what are our big problems and how can we wallow in them. The question is who can help?"

"We are facing some really, really tough times. Homelessness is going up but actually, the evidence to end homelessness has never been better."

Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, who experienced homelessness as a teenager and is now chief fire officer for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, is one of the advocates working with Homewards and praised William - who visited homeless shelters from a young age with late mother Diana, Princess of Wales - for his empathy.

She said: "He understands trauma, he does understand trauma.

"He can see echoes of it in himself I think, from that experience of trauma and how it affects you and how it affects the way you see things."

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