The Bourne Academy and Prince William’s Homewards Programme Mark Two Years of Progress and Impact

Prince William’s Homewards programme marked two years of progress this week by bringing together representatives from across its six flagship locations with national partners and sector leads (including BCP’s The Bourne Academy) at a special event in Sheffield.

After a foundational first year, Homewards is now firmly in delivery mode, progressing impactful,

scalable solutions to prevent homelessness in the six flagship locations: Aberdeen; Bournemouth,

Christchurch & Poole; Lambeth; Newport; Northern Ireland and Sheffield. Over 100 initiatives to tackle

homelessness in the six locations are now underway, involving the creation of new homes, funding

and finance, data, early intervention, employment and changing the narrative to reframe perceptions

of homelessness and inspire optimism that it can be ended.

As work continues to ramp up, Homewards surveys young people to identify those who are at greater risk of homelessness and provides them with the support they and their families need at the earliest possible

point. ‘Upstream’ is modelled on the Australian Geelong Project, which saw a 40% reduction in youth

homelessness and a 20% reduction in the number of young people leaving school early.

Mark Avoth, Principal at The Bourne Academy and Kate Parker, Strategic Lead, Dorset Shelter led a breakout group during the two day celebration.  Their address focused on the Prevention of Homelessness and centred around ‘how early intervention can end Homelessness for good and the role we all have to play’. 

Mark Avoth commented ‘It was a real privilege to be asked to present on our partnership with Shelter to develop an Upstream model to provide target support to families at risk of homelessness in BCP.  Homewards has one goal: to demonstrate that it’s possible to end Homelessness – making it rare, brief and unrepeated’

At the anniversary event in Sheffield, Homewards highlighted its key areas of focus from its second

year including:

• Delivering homes for people: Across the six locations, over 300 units of accommodation are currently forecast through the IHPs and other housing projects that Homewards is supporting

• Mobilising data to identify homelessness early: Homewards is working with each of the six locations to develop ways to use data to identify those at risk of homelessness and intervene sooner to prevent it. This work will include a focus on predictive analytics which will be a key focus in year three of the programme. Homewards Activator, Salesforce, is supporting on an ambitious national data strategy across the six locations.

• Creating funding opportunities for innovative solutions: Nineteen new locally led initiatives

have been funded through the Homewards Fund so far, which offers up to £500,000 of flexible

seed funding for each flagship location to support the delivery of their Local Action Plan across

the lifespan of the programme. In addition to what has already been awarded by the

Homewards Fund, significant additional funding leveraged through partners and Coalition

members means that nearly £3 million has been secured for the locations so far. Alongside

this, a major new partnership between Homewards and Lloyds Banking Group has unlocked

£50 million of new finance to deliver homes across Homewards locations.

• Generating employment for people experiencing homelessness: New training and

employment opportunities have been created across the six locations through local initiatives

and a partnership with national leading recruitment expert, Hays, to secure commitments for

meaningful employment and training opportunities.

Liz Laurence, Programme Director for Homewards said: “When we launched Homewards, our aim

was simple. To demonstrate that together, it’s possible to end homelessness, working with six locations.

Two years in, Homewards is firmly in delivery mode. Collaboration has been crucial in making things

happen, and this year has highlighted the power of partnerships on a national level, but also the

importance of local togetherness which has allowed for such meaningful progress. We look forward to

continuing and building on this work into year three of the programme and beyond.”

Lydia Stazen, former Executive Director of the Institute of Global Homelessness and member of

Homewards National Expert Panel, said: “Bringing a sustainable end to homelessness is complex,

takes time and requires collaboration from all parts of society. Two years in, Homewards is showing

how it can be done, using its convening power to bring new voices and expertise to the table, and

working to deliver scalable, impactful solutions to this societal challenge.”

Homewards has one goal: to demonstrate that it’s possible to end homelessness – making it rare, brief

and unrepeated. Going into the third year and beyond, Homewards will do this by continuing its work

to prevent homelessness for specific cohorts of people locally, challenging stigma, inspiring optimism

and ensuring this work is sustainable and replicable.