Prince William is pressing ahead with a £3 million social housing plan on his Cornwall estate as part of his campaign to end homelessness.
Prince William plans to build social housing
The Prince of Wales wants to offer high-quality accommodation in the area and is looking to have 24 new homes - both four-bedroom houses and one-bedroom flats - built on the development in Nansledan, Newquay, by next year.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, the low-carbon houses will be designed by Adam Architecture and local firm ALA Architects in a "traditional Cornish seaside" style, featuring slate roofs, granite lintels, solar panels, heat pumps and colourful timber windows.
William - who has three children with wife Catherine, Princess of Wales - has offered to cover the construction costs of the houses, along with giving the land free of charge. Investment will also be made in local infrastructure, including bus links, electricity, water, and superfast broadband.
The prince wants the new estate to "look and feel as homely as possible" to tackle the stigma surrounding social housing and wants to add shrubs and relandscape the area to encourage biodiversity.
And the scheme will also offer various "wraparound services" in collaboration with homelessness charity St. Petrocs, including mental health support, training, employment opportunities and counselling.
Sources told the newspaper the 41-year-old royal - who saw the Duchy record profits of £24 million in 2022-23 - wants to "lead from the front" and urge other landowners to follow in his footsteps.
Kensington Palace hailed the scheme as the Duchy's “first innovative housing project to help address homelessness”.
William vowed last year to build social housing on his private estate as part of his mission to "end homelessness".
Asked if there are duchy plans for affordable housing, he told the Sunday Times newspaper in a rare interview: “There is. Absolutely. Social housing. You’ll see that when it’s ready. I’m no policy expert, but I push it where I can.”
It is believed William will "start small" and scale up his plans if they prove to be viable but the prince stressed "the key thing is making this sustainable" when it comes to his vision.
He said: “It’s all very well doing big gestures, but there’s no point if . . . there’s no future to it..
"[I am determined to] make a difference . . . that doesn’t set people up that are homeless for another fall.
"They think they’ve got hope and then you take it away from them, which so many of these people have experienced.”
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