Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown joined HRH Prince William and entrepreneur Steven Bartlett at a special event in Sheffield to mark the second year of the Prince’s Homewards project to tackle homelessness.

The project, which has been piloted in six locations, takes a Housing first approach and intervenes early to prevent at-risk youth from becoming homeless. The goal of the project is to make homelessness rare, brief and unrepeated, transforming lives one family at a time.

Beneficiaries are also provided with employment pathways from partners such as Hays and Pret A Manger to help break cycles of poverty.

During the event, Mr Brown praised the Prince saying “his passion, his dedication, his commitment shone through”.

Prince William spoke of the importance of working together and giving people optimism: “the power of partnerships gives me hope,” he said.

One such partnerships is that between Homewards and the Multibank charity set up by Mr Brown. Multibanks collect essential and surplus goods from businesses  which are then redsistributed to families in need across Britain. As part of the initiative, Multibanks will assist with the furnishing of Homewards properties.