Prince William 'We can end homelessness"

[Thedom]

Part 1, I thought it was a really insightful and thought provoking documentary, very well produced and some impressive people working tirelessly to support the homeless community.

William came across as passionate and very articulate, knowledgeable without appearing to be preaching. A great cause and hopefully will be successful, it's great he is working so closely with those who are on the front line daily trying to make a difference.

He looks so like Diana, not only his appearance but his mannerisms and expressions, could have been watching and listening to Diana at times.

Don't know how it will do on Disney+ though, it is very UK specific, an unsexy subject and I am sure they will have to add subtitles in places.

And not charge the RNLI a fee to use slipways for their boats

www.thenational.scot/news/24696539.watch-channel-4-dispatches-king-secret-millions/

And

%3D

😂🤩 🏆 had a good chuckle reading this comment - entirely agree.

Wrong thread

I’d be interested to know how much leeway the incumbent Duke of Cornwall has to change the capital holdings of the Duchy - it was set up as an income source for the heir (when the heir is a man - also wonder if that still applies).

I assume it’s set up so that any particular Duke of Cornwall can’t just sell off and spend the capital but can they sell and reinvest in different things?

It’s good to have more information about what is owned / rented by whom when it comes to public services.

Having read through the Times article though, for me, it doesn’t take away from the benefit I think may come from the Homewards project.

Once again, William has been Duke of Cornwall for a year. These units were allowed to degrade under Charles. Everyone seems to be conveniently forgetting that fact. How do you know the situation isn't on his to-do list? If any of you own property, do you rent it at below market value or offer it up free?

Here in NYC, many people who are living in rest-stabilized and rent- controlled apartments won't report issues because the landlord can apply for a rent increase after the improvement. I had a neighbor whose toaster started a fire since the apartment's electrical system was way below code. The walls had asbestos in the plaster and they would have had to move out for the entire place to be rewired. The landlord could have then applied for a rent increase due to the improvements. The tenants preferred to live in substandard conditions. I could tell you similar stories about friends.

Once again, William has been Duke of Cornwall for a year.

Over two years actually. Since September 2022

I have never read that units were allowed to degrade under Charles. If so, that is awful.

As for your story about New York 🫨 Some tenants have wanted central heating but the increase in rent would be huge. And double glazing, Charles doesn't apparently agree with it or something. I do think blaming the tenants is rather unfair.

You wouldn't think receiving £25m a yr as a respectable landlord you would just pay tp get the hearing done and not raise rents. I mean is £25m not enough? What would it cost per house to put in proper hearing £10-20k at most. Say 100 houses thays £2m max. They would make that back in interest off the millions they make every yr 🙄

It depends on the properties. If they are old (possibly listed) then it can be difficult. Many older properties aren't structurally suitable for things like cavity wall insulation, new windows aren't easily fitted. They may not have easy access to central heating (if more rural).

If 87% of Duchy properties have been brought up to standard I'd be interested to see the properties that aren't. Local NT properties that were used to house staff were out of commission for a couple of years while they were upgraded. They were listed and 100's of years old and it was apparently really difficult to source and then install the required materials and not ruin the exterior and interiors of the buildings. Great when it was done but it meant the staff were either living in caravans or not housed at all, and it cost far more than originally budgeted for. I remember the fundraising appeals.

If the 13% of Duchy properties are easy to upgrade then there's really no excuse, and it absolutely should be done.

It does need looking at and, as with anything related to the crown, will probably need legislation to change.

I would like to know about other landlords and if they also charge the NHS or the military for using their land, I'm betting yes. It's emotive for the programme to use those examples but I would like to know a bit more about the detail, are the rates charged standard, higher or lower than other landlords charge for example.

The fact that people think that the Duchy of Cornwall shouldn't charge because William is Heir to the Throne is a great example of the complex path monarchy treads in the modern world where no one believes in the divine right of mind anymore and deference is, rightly imo, rapidly fading.

So if the housing is substandard, why rent it out? I find it hard to believe that even listed buildings cannot be made acceptably energy efficient if the landlord is wiling to put his hand in his pocket. Why are these people not embarrassed to be profiting from substandard housing? Have they no sense of civic duty?

Well very interestingly one of the issues that was brought up during the Homewards documentary was the role that private landlords play in housing insecurity. The Sheffield contingent raised it because one of the key causes of homelessness for some of the poorer communities in Sheffield was connected to protections for tenants with private landlords.

Will be interesting how William goes forward with that branch of the programme - he was keen to investigate the issue of private landlords more and how that impacts homelessness.

Which begs the question of his genuine interest in the issue as it is the number one bloody obvious place to start and would have been staring him in the face. "Gosh private landlords are a problem are they? Wow let me look into that"

Well not necessarily - Homewards is trialing a multi pronged approach to the issue of homelessness - private landlords is just one of many different issues the programme is investigating and exploring solutions for.

But it’s definitely something that I hope becomes part of the solution and that William can use his experience and expertise from the Homewards work to apply changes for the Duchy.

The Duchy of Cornwall annual report for 2024 (which predates the Dispatches/ST) reported that they are doing trials of best retrofits to deliver energy efficiency in properties that may be 'non tradtional'. Non-trad buildings are a known issue in the housing sector and bring with them lots of difficulties for owners/landlords. The legislation allows for exemptions on certain grounds including cost/7year rule.
On a more postive note, I was interested to read in said report that the Duchy is investing money in supporting mental health of their tenants - farming can be such a stressful and I'd imagine quite isolating experience so I hope the MH support programme goes well.

Patronising nonsense, the royals don't live in the real world and why should they.

The idea that 'we can end homelessness' is naive.

Our population is at an all time high, thousands and thousands are on the housing list.

It's a never ending problem that he can't solve I'm afraid.

A few hand wringing meetings with some former homeless people doesn't cut it for me.

Am I naive to think that it wouldn’t be hard for the royals to do a lot more for homelessness while retaining their mega portfolio and earning lots of money. I feel like we don’t know the half of it. We see a very curated image of them pretending to be middle class with their clothing and doing modest things. I’m imagine they do opulent things and go on little luxurious visits that are out of this world that we’ll never know about.

why is it so hard to develop some land ? Build an eco village or use some income to rejuvenate a poor seaside town for people in need of housing ? They have ample income and connections.

I grew up in a cottage originally built around 1500, it was listed. There were all sorts of planning constraints to deal with when putting in things like double glazing, because it's character is part of our national heritage, so there were all sorts of details to work through. One window was excluded altogether because of its age.

It really isn't that simple, unless you take the view that energy efficiency overrides all other considerations.

Luckily the walls were built of cob (mud, dung, horsehair etc), so incredibly energy efficient! Always warm in winter and cool in summer. And about a metre thick.

@Lavenderfarmcottage
I'm sure the Royals could do a lot, but I also don't think all homelessness has an easy fix.
For some it's just a pure financial issue and the price of housing is wild. Hard times can't pay the bills, divorce, abuse etc.
For many others there are other additions to deal with too drugs, alcohol and gambling. That also puts obstacles in the way of paying the bills.
That's also why many don't want to be in homeless shelters being surrounded by addiction and the violence that goes with it.

Vincent's story made me cry 😓