Prince William’s duchy housing scheme is a ‘catastrophic mistake’

Prince William has been promising to build affordable housing on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall since 2023. That was the year he began funding a couple of pilot programs, nothing too big or expensive. It was basically a small group of duchy-owned apartments well outside of London. Well, three years later, William has been telling everyone about his plans to sell off a fifth of the duchy’s assets so he can build much more affordable housing. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t. Given William’s history, I tend to believe he’s overpromising and he will inevitably underdeliver. But one Daily Mail columnist has a different gripe: Liz Jones thinks this whole “affordable housing” scheme is a “catastrophic mistake” because William has never lived in the real world or had to deal with real-life rentals or mortgages and what have you. She basically thinks William’s scheme will fail because he’s too dumb and privileged. I mean… fair enough.

It sounded like a brilliant news story. The Prince of Wales has announced plans to sell off 20 per cent of the Duchy of Cornwall land to build homes, saying he will invest £500million in tackling the ‘housing and nature crisis’ befalling his kingdom. An ostensibly worthy cause for the future monarch – especially as he promises to pump £160million into housing solutions and affordable homes.

The prince’s announcement comes as we also learn that he and Kate are paying some £300,000 rent a year on their ‘forever’ home in Windsor Great Park, Forest Lodge. The couple still occasionally reside at Kensington Palace in London, and Anmer Hall on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk which was a wedding gift from the late Queen. And the majority of Prince William’s private income comes from the £20million a year he receives from his private estate, the Duchy of Cornwall property empire. Indeed, the Waleses could not be further from being precarious tenants who are subject to the whims of a property owner – nor will they ever experience the trials and tribulations of the housing market.

Which is why I find myself questioning whether he’s the right person to be involved in this housing initiative. Would such a privileged individual ever be able to truly understand the difficulties he wants to help others overcome, presenting himself as a housing saviour to those in the Duchy? Unless you have been unable to buy a house, been evicted or forced to rent, you cannot possibly begin to comprehend how housing, or indeed the lack of it, affects every moment of your life.

I lost my home in 2018 and had to rent from a private landlady, and I can assure you that in the depths of my housing crisis, I woke up each morning terrified…You can be seen as less than human as a renter and a financial liability as a non-property owner. It is a precarious way to live and, come on, can a prince possibly know what that is like?…William cannot possibly know how this feels: to not have your own things around you, to be at the whim of someone else when it comes to the basic appliances you need to live your life.

Our future king has never lived in the real world: never had his deposit retained because he threw out the broken fairy lights, never been kept indoors waiting when his landlady asks if she can pop round to look in her (locked) loft, and then doesn’t bother to turn up.

His intentions are, I hope, honourable, but just as doling out food in a soup kitchen for a brief photo opportunity does not cut it, so playing at being benefactor is all about optics.

William’s concerned face does emit empathy, but until you have walked the walk, please don’t talk the talk. Yes, he visited Centre Point as a child with his mother, Diana. He slept rough for, what was it, one night in 2009?

I’d have more respect if he requisitioned the palaces and turned them into social housing. And turfed out the York princesses from their grace-and-favour London apartments. Because how many homes do these people actually need?

[From The Daily Mail]

As I said… these criticisms are more than fair. It’s not that I’m defending William at all, but I’d just like to say… I don’t completely hate his housing scheme. Yes, I believe he’s overpromising. Yes, I believe that there won’t be huge, sweeping changes. Yes, I believe that he’s doing all of this for optics, for PR, maybe even for crisis management. But I also kind of think he just sees this kind of thing as a good use of his time and inherited resources. I’d rather see him do this kind of stuff as opposed to just sitting on his ass, twiddling his unmanicured thumbs. Which, to be fair, is what he does 90% of the time. I’m in the camp of “whatever, it couldn’t hurt.”

Also: I find it interesting that Jones comes thisclose to actually saying “William hasn’t had to deal with the kind of precarious, ridiculous housing issues as his brother.” Prince Harry knows how it feels to be evicted. Harry knows how it feels to be stuck in a decrepit rental. Harry knows what it’s like to arrive in a last-minute borrowed home with none of his furniture and few of his possessions. Harry knows what it’s like to take out a mortgage.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Kensington Palace’s Instagram.