Prince William sleeps out on London's streets to raise awareness

Notes from Centrepoint’s CEO, Seyi Obakin

Prince William and Centrepoint CEO Seyi Obakin prepare for a night in freezing temperatures

At a dinner Prince William attended in March 2009 to support Centrepoint, the Prince, our Patron, threw down the gauntlet for us to work towards ending youth homelessness by our 50^th anniversary. In accepting that challenge, I invited him to share, for one night, the experience a young person sleeping rough on the streets of London might have. It did not occur to me that he would pick up that gauntlet. But he did! He was determined, as he has always been, to understand deeply the full range of problems a homeless young person might face.

And so it was that on the eve of our 40^th anniversary (on the night of 15th December 2009), I found myself accompanying Prince William and his private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, as we bedded down for the night on cardboard boxes around Blackfriars bridge, London. For me, it was a scary experience. Out of my comfortable bed. Out there in the elements. Out there on an extremely cold night, with temperatures down to minus 4^oC. And it was the same for Prince William. But he was determined to do it as Patron in order to raise awareness of the problem and to be able to understand a little better what rough sleepers go through night after night.

We took as much precaution as possible – finding a relatively secluded spot in an alleyway, shielded partly by a collection of wheelie bins. But there was no shielding from the bitter cold, or the hard concrete floor, or the fear of being accosted by drug dealers, pimps or those out to give homeless people a 'good' kicking. One of the hairiest moments occurred when we were almost run over by a road sweeper which simply didn’t see our small group huddled together, which just goes to show how vulnerable rough sleepers are. I have never been happier to welcome the break of dawn!

At dawn, Prince William and I walked with another colleague through some of the streets of the West End so he could see with his own eyes many of the ‘invisible’ men and women who are rough sleepers in the buzzing centre of London. Prince William understood, as I did, that what he experienced was but a fraction of what it means to be truly homeless and afflicted. He knew that a young homeless person who has to sleep rough will not then have in the morning the choices we had in Centrepoint’s Greek Street hostel – a warm shower, a change of clothes, a decent breakfast. Homeless young people often face terrible dependency problems with drugs or alcohol, mental illness, poverty, family breakdown and many other issues, all of which are experiences that we simply cannot begin to share after sleeping rough for just one night. But sleeping rough for the night brought home, as no ‘story-telling’ can possibly do, the nightmare and incredible vulnerability of being homeless night after night.    

Maxine Edney, Centrepoint’s Chief Operations Officer said:

"Centrepoint is enormously grateful for the support of our patron Prince William who, as this sleep out demonstrates, plays an active role in understanding and supporting youth homelessness and the work we do at Centrepoint."

She continued:

"Around half of the young people that come to Centrepoint have spent time sleeping on the streets. I hope that by Prince William sleeping out, more people will take the time to consider why young people are vulnerable on the streets, be it family breakdown, poverty or abuse, and help join Centrepoint's ambition to bring an end to youth homelessness."

Prince William said:

"I cannot, after one night, even begin to imagine what it must be like to sleep rough on London's streets night after night. Poverty, mental illness, drug and alcohol dependancy and family breakdown cause people to become and then stay homeless. Centrepoint's work - along with many other organisations' - in tackling these fundamental causes is desperately important if we are ever to end homelessness in this country. I hope that by deepening my understanding of the issue, I can help do my bit to help the most vulnerable on our streets."

After the night on the streets, Prince William went on to visit one of Centrepoint's accommodation services, on Greek Street, Soho, to mark the charity’s 40th birthday and to meet some of the young people supported by the charity. In the evening, a thanksgiving service took place in the birthplace of the charity, St. Anne's church, Soho, attended by its founder Ken Leech. Over the last four decades, Centrepoint has helped more than 70,000 young people.