The Prince of Wales has arrived in Aberdeen as part of a tour of the UK to announce an initiative aimed at ending homelessness.
William, known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, is visiting Tillydrone Community Campus on the second day of his tour for his new Homewards project, having visited a community centre in Belfast earlier in the morning.
He is expected to be shown around the campus and see various activities taking place including cooking classes, NHS services and nursery sessions.
He will be joined by Homewards advocate, David Duke, who founded Street Soccer Scotland and Street Soccer London after playing for Scotland at the Homeless World Cup while sleeping rough.
The visit came as part of William’s UK tour to launch Homewards, a five-year locally-led programme, delivered by The Royal Foundation.
It is set to take a transformative approach to the issue of homelessness and put collaboration at its heart, giving six flagship locations new space, tools, and relationships to showcase what can be achieved through a collective effort focused on preventing and ending homelessness in their areas.
Aberdeen is the fifth of six locations to be unveiled by William during a UK tour which continued on Tuesday.
Earlier, he was cheered by well-wishers as he arrived at Skainos, a community centre in east Belfast.
He was officially welcomed to the Northern Ireland capital by Lord Lieutenant Dame Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle as well as Belfast Lord Mayor Ryan Murphy and East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson.
In Belfast, William met initial members of the coalition being built through Homewards, and heard from representatives from the East Belfast Mission about their work to tackle homelessness and about their new housing development 240.
He also met refugee Mehrshad Esfandiari from Iran who used the services, and now owns his own home.
Mr Esfandiari became homeless in Belfast after his asylum application was processed and he had to leave his government-provided accommodation.
“Leaving my country was not a choice, circumstance forced me to go because I was in danger,” he said.
“It was a great honour for me to speak with the Prince of Wales and share how East Belfast Mission provided me with a safe place to live along with support to develop language skills and gain recognised qualifications in this country.
“As a result, I have been in full-time employment for several years now and have just bought my first home. I am an active member of several community groups such as Larne House Visitors Group and chairperson of Belfast City of Sanctuary, a charity with an ethos of welcome and support for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers living here.”
William spoke with Grainia Long, Northern Ireland Housing Executive chief executive, who afterwards said the partnership has the potential to be “transformational”.
“The discussion this morning with Prince William, members of The Royal Foundation and local partner organisations, confirmed that we share a real and a longstanding commitment to work together to improve the lives of those people who are struggling to find a place to call home,” she said.
“We share the same vision and are all equally optimistic that we can end homelessness here in Northern Ireland.”
Ms Long said the launch comes at a time when Northern Ireland is facing unprecedented levels of demand in respect of housing and homelessness.
“It was fantastic to attend the programme launch today alongside East Belfast Mission, Belfast and Lisburn Women’s Aid, MACs Supporting Children and Young People, Simon Community and the Welcome Organisation,” she said.
“These are some of the organisations that are already delivering transformative support and assistance to many people.
“We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with them over the next five years, to achieve real and tangible impact around homelessness.
“Despite the currently challenging environment, we are very optimistic that, through the Homewards programme, we will make real progress towards ending homelessness in Northern Ireland.”
Following the official engagement, William took time to meet a number of well-wishers who had gathered on the Newtownards Road.
