Prince William visits Belfast in campaign to end homelessness

The Prince of Wales has visited a community centre in east Belfast in his campaign to end homelessness.

The visit to the East Belfast Mission is part of a two-day UK tour which started in London on Monday.

Prince William's charitable foundation is contributing £3m of funding to help make homelessness "rare, brief and unrepeated".

His five-year Homewards campaign centres around six locations across the UK, including Belfast.

The prince was greeted by well-wishers in east Belfast - but some were happier to see him than others

On Monday he visited housing and training projects in Brixton in London, Bournemouth and Newport in South Wales.

The East Belfast Mission, at the Skainos Centre on the Newtownards Road, provides support to homeless people across Belfast.

Prince William was met by Belfast's Lord-Lieutenant Dame Fionnuala Mary Jay-O'Boyle, along with a small crowd outside the centre on Tuesday morning.

It is his second visit to Northern Ireland since becoming Prince of Wales.

Prince William spoke to staff at East Belfast Mission during his visit to the city

As part of the Homewards campaign, £500,000 will be on offer in each location for businesses, organisations and individuals to find new ways of tackling homelessness.

The initiative is likely to be one of the defining projects for the Prince of Wales - a commitment which comes with the risk of being accused of straying into politics.

But the argument from Prince William's team is that he is putting his privileged position to good purposes and using his high profile to energise this campaign.

The visit comes as homelessness in Northern Ireland is on the rise, according to the most recent Department for Communities (DfC) statistics.

Earlier in June, Homeless Connect, an umbrella group for homelessness services in Northern Ireland, warned Stormont budget cuts would leave a shortfall of around £7.4m for addressing homelessness.

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Rev Brian Anderson of East Belfast Mission said he was "delighted" the centre had been chosen for the project.

Rev Brian Anderson says Prince William is "very well informed" about homelessness

He said the Prince of Wales was "very well informed" on the subject of homelessness.

"He knows the challenges around the sector and he understands that we need to work together so we can make a huge impact on homelessness," he said.

Grainia Long says Homewards is a "hugely important mission"

Grainia Long, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), described Homewards as a "hugely important mission and an optimistic vision of how we solve homelessness".

Ms Long said soaring demand for housing over recent years has meant the NIHE can only respond when people have already become homeless.

"What Homewards means is that we will now be focused on the earliest possible opportunities - prevention of homelessness in the first place," she said.

"That's a game changer."