William is king of the hoops on tour to promote anti-homelessness project

William went head to head with Aston Villa footballer Tyrone Mings and was given a huge cheer by members of a Sheffield community project when he was the first of them to score.

The former steel town was the final leg on a whistlestop tour of the four home nations to highlight Homewards, the prince’s ambitious five-year project to end homelessness in six locations.

Mings is an advocate for the project and spoke in recent days about how as a child he experienced a “scary” time living in emergency accommodation with his family.

Commenting on Homewards’ aim of eradicating homelessness, he said: “It’s going to be difficult, but I don’t think any of us would have joined, or Prince William himself would be doing it, if he didn’t think that was achievable.”

Speaking after the event at the headquarters of Reach Up Youth, a community project supporting young people in Sheffield, the sportsman suggested the initiative would help change society’s perceptions of the homeless.

The footballer said: “I almost felt a little bit guilty with getting involved at the start because I thought, I didn’t sleep rough and I wasn’t someone that was out in the streets.

“So I didn’t want to be doing those people a disservice.

“But then learning more about homelessness, and my situation, and just how vast homelessness is, brought me under that umbrella of being homeless at that certain time.”

William has set his sights on making rough sleeping, sofa surfing and other forms of temporary accommodation a thing of the past, as he tries to emulate Finland, where the problem has been virtually eradicated, with his initiative.

The five-year project will initially focus on six locations where businesses, local authorities and organisations will be encouraged to join forces and develop “bespoke” action plans to tackle homelessness, with up to £500,000 in funding.

On Monday William announced the first three locations – Newport, South Wales, three neighbouring Dorset towns, Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch, and the south London borough of Lambeth – where his ambitious initiative will bring together organisations to tackle homelessness.

Earlier the prince unveiled Northern Ireland as the next site by visiting Belfast, and travelled to Aberdeen before visiting Sheffield.

In Belfast the prince spoke to Grainia Long, Northern Ireland Housing Executive chief executive, who afterwards said the partnership has the potential to be “transformational”.

Ms Long said the launch comes at a time when Northern Ireland is facing unprecedented levels of demand in respect of housing and homelessness.

She said: “The discussion this morning with Prince William, members of The Royal Foundation and local partner organisations, confirmed that we share a real and a longstanding commitment to work together to improve the lives of those people who are struggling to find a place to call home.”

William praised healthcare workers during a visit to a community centre in Aberdeen.

He told nurses they were doing “amazing work” as he toured the Tillydrone Community Campus to take in the breadth of support services provided and discuss how early interventions can prevent people becoming homeless.

The Granite City campus is the only Scottish location to have been chosen to benefit from the Homewards project launched by William’s Royal Foundation, to demonstrate what can be achieved by a mix of groups making a collective effort to tackle homelessness.

The prince, known as the Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, told nurses in a health unit set up at the facility: “You guys have been chosen for a reason.

“You’ve got ambition, you’re doing amazing work and we want to help what you’re doing. It’s not just about a person sleeping in the street – support services are crucial.”