Today The Lord Mayor’s Appeal and The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales announce a new partnership in support of Homewards. Launched in 2023 by Prince William and The Royal Foundation, Homewards is a transformative five-year programme that aims to demonstrate that by working together, it’s possible to end homelessness, making it rare, brief and unrepeated.
Homewards is working in partnership with six flagship locations, across the United Kingdom, including Lambeth in London, and is providing them with the space, tools and expertise to deliver and demonstrate innovative solutions that prevent and end homelessness. The impact of the programme will be felt wider than the locations, with learnings being used to create tried and tested models that can be scaled.
Homewards will also raise awareness of the breadth and complexities of homelessness through national campaigns, local storytelling and by placing those with lived experience at the heart of this work.
By demonstrating that homelessness is not inevitable, and is in fact a solvable issue, Homewards will inspire a movement in the UK, and further afield, to end homelessness for good.
Homewards joins National Numeracy and MQ Mental Health Research as the official charity partners of The Lord Mayor’s Appeal. The Lord Mayor’s Appeal’s strategic aim is to create A Better City for All through its four pillars – Inclusive, Healthy, Skilled and Fair. Its ambition is to help one million people thrive via impactful initiatives like annual event City Giving Day, which unites businesses by celebrating their fundraising and volunteering efforts.
The Lord Mayor of the City of London Alderman Michael Mainelli says, “We are delighted to welcome Homewards as our new charity partner. We look forward to supporting The Royal Foundation in this ambitious five-year programme through funds, collaboration, and connections to prevent and end homelessness particularly across London. Our ambition at The Lord Mayor’s Appeal is to work with leading experts in tackling social issues and Homewards perfectly fits the bill.”
It is estimated that over 300,000 people, half of whom are children, are currently experiencing homelessness in some form, whether that’s sleeping on the streets, staying in hostels, living in their cars or other forms of temporary accommodation. Eight in ten people think homelessness is a serious problem in the UK, and seven in ten think society does not pay enough attention to ending homelessness. 80% think homelessness can happen to anyone and one in five have experience with homelessness.
Amanda Berry OBE, Chief Executive of The Royal Foundation says: ‘We are delighted that The Lord Mayor’s Appeal is supporting Homewards. Homelessness is a societal issue, and it will take every one of us, working together to make real change. We very much look forward to building our partnership, collaborating with The Lord Mayor’s Appeal and partners from across the City of London.’
Homewards will join National Numeracy and MQ Mental Health Research as a charity partner for three years; previous charities include The Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Samaritans and Place2Be. Through a series of dedicated events, and corporate and livery donations The Lord Mayor’s Appeal raises thousands of pounds for their partner charities annually to ensure these good causes can continue to enact positive change.
