Yahoo News 'Critics of Prince William’s Homelessness documentary miss the point'
Prince William has taken part in a new two-part documentary for ITV, the first episode of which aired last night. The film follows the future King in the first year of his ambitious Homewards project, which aims to eradicate homelessness in six pilot locations within five years. The goal is so lofty that even participants in the documentary at points express their doubt that it will be manageable, and in one scene William admits that after starting a couple of his larger-scale charitable projects he’s felt some apprehension over their size.
The documentary has already attracted a decent chunk of criticism, and I mean, I get it. There is an irony of a man with palaces, and seemingly endless privilege at his disposal being the one to head this up. Graham Smith, CEO of the campaign group Republic, wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the issue of homelessness needs “political will and money, not royals,” and he’s right, it does need that too. The Guardian questioned if William is the right person for the job, but lauded his attempt to try, the i newspaper called the documentary an “abject failure” and “frustratingly neutral”, and Jan Moir writing for the Daily Mail noted William “means well” but said after viewing it was no clearer how this goal would be achieved.
As the future King of a constitutional monarchy, William is bound to remain politically neutral, and this does mean that the “systemic” reasons that the U.K. is facing a homelessness crisis go unaddressed, but the Prince of Wales and ITV have together managed something that is impressive: managing to force the viewer to look at the humanity of homelessness, to eke out empathy for those in society so often ignored, who we forcibly choose to forget.
The uncomfortable truth is that most of us are closer to homelessness than we would like to admit to ourselves. In an ongoing cost of living crisis, with soaring rents, energy bills, and mortgage rates impacting pretty much everybody — this has never been truer.
William is bound to stay out of politics, but working to increase public awareness and empathy toward this issue can be a crucial building block in creating future political will. Here is using his significant influence to great effect, getting eyeballs on the crisis at hand and presenting an opportunity for the viewers — and the electorate — to care about those who have been affected by homelessness.
Many of those who appear in the documentary are either experts in this sector, that William defers to, or have been personally affected by homelessness. From Sabrina who slept rough at the age of 15 before selling the Big Issue helped her find stability, to Vincent Lewis, who became homeless after the trauma of a house fire in which his mother died, and who has since been unable to sleep indoors — it’s impossible not to feel emotional.
What is repeatedly put across is a person-centred, preventative approach is needed to end homelessness, with a focus on tailoring to regional- specific needs. It’s clear that William understands just how complicated the homelessness crisis is, saying in one scene, “You’ve got to start from the bottom and say ‘Guys, you’re living here, it’s your community what do you want?’” William knows that a one-size-fits-all approach simply won’t cut it, but to be fair he has been meeting people and doing charity work in this sector since he was a child, which is more than most of us can say.
There are serious political and economic issues that have caused the homelessness crisis that need to be addressed, but until any issue is at the forefront of the public’s agenda and consciousness — will they be? The late Princess Diana famously helped change the public perception of those suffering from HIV/AIDs, by simply treating those she met like real human beings. King Charles dragged the climate crisis into the public consciousness kicking and screaming, by relentlessly focussing on the humanitarian impacts of the crisis, rather than its political and economic causes.
Prince William is following in his parent's footsteps here, combining the best of their campaigning efforts to serve as a reminder that those who find themselves homeless are not less human than us and that all it could take is a few missteps to find ourselves in a similar position.
Prince William: We Can End Homelessness won’t let us look away from the human face of the issue, and there in the film and the future King find their power.
You Might Also Like
