Following Prince William’s five-year Homewards programme, which aims to show it’s possible to end homelessness, a new ITV documentary explores the first year of this initiative. With unique access to Prince William, We Can End Homelessness captures rare behind-the-scenes footage of the royal at work as he confronts the scale of the crisis and shines a light on the work being done by the Homewards team.

In candid interviews, Prince William explains how he was first introduced to the reality of homelessness by his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, and how he is now doing the same with his own children. Former England footballer Fara Williams, fire chief Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton and TV presenter Gail Porter are among those supporting Homewards and sharing their experiences of homelessness, alongside individuals and families across the UK who are experiencing homelessness or are on the brink of it themselves.

Here, Stylist spotlights four of the women featured in the new documentary – looking at their lived experiences and their work to eradicate homelessness in the future.

Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton: “You don’t have to have experienced homelessness to be able to relate to people who are experiencing homelessness”

After leaving home at 15 and school at 16, Dr Cohen-Hatton overcame extreme personal adversity and a period of homelessness and began her career as a firefighter. At night school, she studied for a degree in psychology, a master’s in international fire service development and a PhD in behavioural neuroscience. Her publications include her 2019 book, Heat Of The Moment, and her 2023 book, The Gender Bias, which exposes the barriers that hold women back and suggests how to break them.

As a chief fire officer, she has attained the highest rank possible in the UK. Her operational experience includes leading the fire service response to major incidents such as the London Bridge terror attack, the Finsbury Park terror attack and the aftermath of Grenfell. In 2023, Dr Cohen-Hatton was appointed as an advocate for Homewards, and through her role in this initiative, she is focusing on creating systemic change to end homelessness for good.

In the documentary, Dr Cohen-Hatton shares more of her story, talking about the death of her father when she was a young child and the impact this had on her mother and their home environment. “When I was 15, it got too much and I ended up sleeping rough on the streets of Newport, South Wales. I just needed to escape. I can say this with love because I’m from Newport, but it’s not a great city to find yourself in a vulnerable position in. The first night that I was sleeping rough, I remember sitting in a shop doorway and not really knowing what I was doing… I slept out there and I remember thinking to myself: ‘This is really horrible and I’m scared and I feel vulnerable, but it feels better than the environment I was just in.’”

Safiya Saeed: “My role is making sure the community has a voice”

Safiya Saeed is the founder of Reach Up Youth at Burngreave, Sheffield, and became an elected member of the council in 2021 to bring in resources, job opportunities, health and wellbeing and equality. Saeed started the Reach Up Youth charity because of high rates of unemployment, crime and anti-social behaviour and the level of disconnect between authorities and the community of Burngreave. After 13 years of important work, Safiya was recognised for her work through several awards including the Yorkshire Choice Awards inspirational individual of the year award for 2022.

“Homewards and Prince William want to end homelessness within five years in Sheffield. Is that realistic? Let’s just start!” Saeed says in the documentary. She adds that people feel ignored and that the system has completely failed them, but local councils are struggling with budget cuts and a lack of funding so solutions have to come from elsewhere. Saeed also explains that people may be critical of Prince William working around homelessness but his support is needed.

“People that criticise Prince William and say that a person who lives in castles and palaces doesn’t understand homelessness… we don’t care where he lives. The most important thing is that he’s a human and he’s showing it by leading something. If he doesn’t, who will? That’s what we expect from our future king.” 

Fara Williams MBE: “Football saved me, it gave me focus and was a safe space”

Fara Williams is a former professional football player, and is now a TV pundit and personality. In her time as a professional player she played for Everton, Liverpool, Arsenal and England. With over 170 appearances, she’s the most-capped player in the history of English football. Since retiring from the game, Williams has carried out work for major broadcasters including the BBC and Sky Sports and was one of the main pundits for both the 2022 Uefa Women’s Euros and the 2023 Fifa World Cup.

“I experienced homelessness for a period of six years. Sofa-surfing, living at friend’s houses, hostels. Until I became homeless myself, I didn’t have any understanding of what homelessness was. I didn’t know anybody who was homeless; it wasn’t a word that was used. We all know as kids, you always say to your parents, ‘Can’t wait until I’m 16 to get out of this house!’ Then you become 16 and think that you can just walk out and live in the big bad world, when the reality of that is not true,” Williams shares in the documentary.

“Football saved me; it did give me that focus. It gave me something every day to wake up to. Football for me was a safe space. It was a good job I had a good coach in terms of the support she gave me. She actually bought me a sleeping bag. Such a small thing, but sleeping on sheets that you don’t know what’s been on them and beds that, again, you don’t know what’s been there before was really difficult. So that came everywhere with me… Those first few weeks are so important. If you get in then, we’ll see less young adults homeless for sure.”

Lucy Campbell: “For many years, homelessness services have been predominantly built around the needs of homeless men”

Lucy Campbell is head of multiple disadvantage service transformation and domestic abuse lead at Single Homeless Project. She started working in the homelessness sector 18 years ago as a support worker in a large homeless hostel in central London. She quickly realised that the women living there were some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged among the residents – the atmosphere was male-dominated, chaotic and unsafe for women. She has focused her career on developing homelessness responses that are gender-informed within a traditionally male-dominated landscape of service provision.

At Single Homeless Project, Lucy leads on improving the charity’s response to domestic abuse by piloting Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) accreditation across the organisation.

Describing the importance of this work, Campbell tells Stylist: “Women’s rough sleeping and homelessness isn’t just a housing issue – it’s a critical health issue, a violence against women and girls issue, and an equalities issue. Because for many years, homelessness services have been predominantly built around the needs of homeless men. It’s crucial that the government, local authorities and organisations address women’s homelessness in strategy, policy and service design – rather than expecting generic approaches to resolve women’s homelessness.”

Prince William: We Can End Homelessness airs 30 and 31 October at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX

Images: Kensington Palace; Andrew Parsons; Sabrina Cohen-Hatton; Lucy Campbell