Prince William recognises Salvation Army homelessness work

A representative from The Salvation Army met His Royal Highness Prince William in Aberdeen this week as part of a project to end homelessness around the UK.

The Prince of Wales - who is known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland - made the trip north on Thursday to recognise faith groups, homelessness organisations and businesses who are working together to support The Royal Foundation’s Homewards project. Special guests included broadcaster Gail Porter and David Duke who runs the Street Soccer Scotland charity.

During the event, Prince William met with Fi Grimmond, The Salvation Army's homelessness operations manager in Scotland, as well as other groups and businesses tackling homelessness in the city. 

Fi, who is a member of the Homewards Aberdeen steering group, said: “I found it inspiring to be in a room with so many people who the share goal of reducing and preventing homelessness.

“Prince William has really shown his commitment to this goal and to have someone with such a high profile show his support in this way is amazing. He spoke about the benefits of Housing First, which aims to give someone a home and then provide the support needed to maintain it. As a provider of Housing First Services across Scotland, we were pleased to hear this.”

Homewards is a five-year community-driven initiative that was launched in June 2023 at six locations around the UK – Aberdeen, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Sheffield, Lambeth and Northern Ireland. It is designed to provide a platform for local coalitions of people, organisations and businesses to work together to create and deliver plans to prevent and end homelessness in their areas.

During the Prince’s visit it was announced by Homewards that Blue Light Card – a leading discount scheme for the emergency services, NHS, social care sector and armed forces – has now expanded its remit to include workers in the homelessness sector. The discount offer will recognise and support the estimated 60,000 people in the UK homelessness workforce, which includes housing officers, night shelter managers, outreach workers and many more.