Prince William launches UK’s first Homelessness Data Lab

As homelessness becomes a pressing issue in the UK, the tech sector is deploying its latest innovations, bringing data and AI together to prevent individuals from reaching crisis point. 

The Homewards programme, a five-year initiative launched in June 2023 by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales, entered one of the UK’s most influential spaces for technology, business and innovation. 

At London Tech Week, Prince William, along with entrepreneur and podcaster Jake Humphrey, explored how data and technology can help stop homelessness before it even starts.

The panel also included Linda Gibbs, Principal at Bloomberg Associates; Solange Chamberlain, CEO of Retail Banking at NatWest Group; and Zahra Bahrololoumi CBE, President and CEO of Salesforce UK and Ireland.

Data analytics to identify early risk signals

The discussion was centred around how better use of data can help identify when people are at risk earlier. 

Financial signals from banking apps and digital platforms can show distress before a crisis occurs. This information allows support to be provided sooner to vulnerable individuals. 

The session also highlighted the role that businesses can play alongside government and the homelessness sector to build a preventative system.

Prince William explained that many consumers interact with data daily without realising its predictive power. 

He said: “So many people interact with data on a day-to-day basis. So many of your customers, your clients will be using data through banking apps, through their phones that I'm not sure you realise how much that data can be used to predict and see problems with potential homelessness before they actually arise.”

Talking about the Homewards programme, Prince William emphasised how systemic change is possible by using modern technology.

“I started Homewoods three years ago now,” he said. “It’s a five-year project and we’re getting towards the meaty end of what we’re trying to achieve. And it’s about building a model that shows that homelessness is preventable and that it isn’t inevitable as a lot of people have believed in the past.”

Homelessness Data Lab launches to test solutions

London Tech Week marked the launch of the UK’s first Homelessness Data Lab, led by Homewards in partnership with LandAid and Salesforce, to help researchers spot risk earlier and respond more quickly.

It brings together organisations from across sectors to test how data can be used responsibly and ethically. 

By working together and sharing insights, the Lab aims to help more people stay in their homes, avoiding individuals getting to crisis point through early intervention.

Salesforce will support the facility with its cloud technology and data mining expertise. This collaboration represents a major step forward for tech for good initiatives in the UK.

Zahra explained that the Lab will now run a series of very short chart-focused experiments around this data, with the aim to understand the root causes of residential instability.

“If we can make homelessness predictable, we can prevent it, so it is really to understand the causes,” she said.

The project will use historical data to find trends to predict and prevent the issue of homelessness. 

Zahra added: “There is such a rich set of data, there is years and years’ worth of anonymised data from people that have presented themselves as homeless that we can really explore and mine.”

Tech leaders at the event promised to explore how their own companies can contribute to the database.

This joint effort now carries the weight of how corporate social responsibility operates in the tech industry.