Prince William Says He Wants to "Challenge Homelessness" While Promoting New Documentary

Prince William is sharing his ultimate philanthropic goal while promoting an upcoming documentary highlighting the issue of homelessness.

On Saturday, Oct. 5, the Prince and Princess of Wales shared a preview clip of the new film, Prince William: We Can End Homelessness, on the couple's official X, formerly known as Twitter, account as well as the couple's official Instagram account.

"I think it’s really important that we can try and change and tackle the narrative around homelessness," Prince William said while facing the camera, and after he was asked by someone off-camera where his "passion with this particular issue comes from" and why he has decided to focus on the topic of homelessness.

"People live with it," the Prince of Wales continued. "We see it every day in our lives. That's something I want to challenge."

According to the same post, the documentary will be available on both ITV and ITVX in the near future.

In the United States, a record-high 653,104 people experienced homelessness on a single night in January 2023—a more than 12 percent increase over the previous year, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

An estimated 1 in 182 people in England experienced homelessness in 2023, according to one comprehensive analysis of official homelessness figures from Shelter England.

In an effort to change the conversation around and end the sigma of homelessness, Prince William has said that he speaks to his three children—Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis—about the issue.

“On the school run, we talk about what we see,” William told The Sunday Times back in 2023. “When we were in London, driving backwards and forwards, we regularly used to see people sitting outside supermarkets, and we’d talk about it. I’d say to the children, ‘Why are they there? What’s going on?’

:I think it’s in all our interests, it’s the right thing to do, to expose the children, at the right stage, in the right dialogue, so they have an understanding," he continued. "They [will] grow up knowing that actually, do you know what, some of us are very fortunate, some of us need a little bit of a helping hand, some of us need to do a bit more where we can to help others improve their lives.”

While Prince William is showcasing his advocacy—said to be inspired by his lat mother Princess Diana's passion for combatting homelessness—on camera, those who have worked with the Prince of Wales in the past say he does "an awful lot where there aren't cameras."

“That’s what he enjoys the most, because he’s meeting real people, hearing real stories," Mick Clarke, chief executive of homeless charity The Passage, told The Sunday Times in a 2023 interview.

"It’s what has formulated his plans. When he comes here, nothing’s sugarcoated, nothing is sanitized," Clarke continued at the time. "People on the streets are very good about knowing whether someone is authentic or not within a second. He is very authentic.”