Prince William shares hope for homelessness project during Sheffield visit

The Prince of Wales has said he hopes his homelessness project will ease the pressure facing local councils.

Prince William visited housing initiatives in Sheffield on Tuesday to learn how the issue was being tackled.

It comes after the Sun published a photo of him and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales, on a shopping trip.

Catherine had not been seen in public since Christmas, with her health and whereabouts subject to online speculation.

During his visit, Prince William referred to his wife only once - in a discussion about the challenges faced by young families, a subject Catherine has worked on.

One of the participants mentioned the importance of children's early years, to which the prince held up his hands, smiled and said: "We're venturing into my wife's territory here. She needs to be sat here to hear this."

Prince William was joined in the city by housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa, who called for an end to the "stigma" of homelessness and for the problem to be taken seriously by private landlords and local authorities.

The prince and princess have had a difficult start to the year, with Catherine having abdominal surgery and spending time in recovery. She is expected to return to public duties after Easter.

Questions about her health have triggered widespread and often wild conspiracy theories on social media, at times overshadowing William's projects.

It could take another while before that changes - maybe not until after Easter and the princess is back on public duties again.

Until now we have seen a grainy photo of the princess in a car and that hotly disputed picture issued for Mother's Day, which was withdrawn by photo agencies following concerns it had been digitally altered.

Kensington Palace has confirmed the most recent photos, first published in the Sun, were indeed the royal couple during what they considered to be a private moment.

They showed them shopping near their home in Windsor at the weekend, and were taken from a video clip supplied by a member of the public.

It is the clearest evidence of Catherine recovering well following her operation.

Amid the flurry of online rumours, the prince will want the emphasis to turn to one of his most important projects, the Homewards initiative - an ambitious five-year scheme launched last year to tackle homelessness based at six locations around the UK, including Sheffield.

The prince met Ajman Ali, Sheffield City Council's executive director, and asked whether Homewards had helped the local authority - given its already busy workload.

"I'm hoping that Homewards comes along [and can] lift that pressure off you, bring more people into the mix and allow you to then be able to plan and see something further down the line," the prince said.

The initiative is Prince William's "flagship project" and he takes a close personal interest in how its local partnerships are developing, according to a royal source.

To coincide with the visit, the DIY chain Homebase is donating 1,500 "starter packs" of furniture, paint and other items to help families moving into new accommodation.

Mr Tweneboa, who is helping to organise the packs and has campaigned for three years to raise awareness about homelessness, said: "We know we've got enough homeless kids in England to entirely fill the O2 arena seven times over, yet that is not enough to change things, change perspective, really take on this crisis with a bottom-up approach - which I fundamentally believe is social housing."

Prince William later arrived at the Millennium Gallery, in the city centre, where he met and listened to stories of people who have been homeless themselves and were now helping others.

The prince's visit is also being supported by some of Sheffield's landlords, with 33 three and four-bedroom properties being made available for "families on the brink of or experiencing homelessness".

The approach of the Homewards project is to bring together grassroots organisations, charities and commercial partners to form local coalitions.

The scale of the problem in Sheffield was highlighted by annual figures showing 4,000 people or families had applied to be registered as homeless, the council's highest figure so far and up 500 on the previous year.

Last month, the government announced £3m in funding for Sheffield City Council to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness.

Additional reporting by James Gregory & Anna Lamche.