This Prince William-backed project helps homeless young people into careers: ‘I want to work my way up’

John fell into homelessness after falling out with his family, and struggled to find work to help himself out of the situation. But a youth employability programme with the backing of Prince William has helped him turn his life around with a career in recruitment.

Project Flourish launched in 2022 as a collaboration between Hays recruitment agency and EveryYouth, a charity bringing together youth homelessness charities. The programme helps disadvantaged young people develop skills to make it into meaningful employment.

The programme recently attracted interest from Prince William’s mission to end homelessness called Homewards. Hays and Homewards have joined forces to create employment pathways for young people at risk of homelessness at Homewards’ six UK locations.

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For people like John (not his real name), who has just passed his six-month probation at a recruitment agency, Project Flourish offers a chance to find work that can not only lift them out of homelessness but into a long-term career.

“It was difficult,” said John when asked about trying to find a job that could become a career while experiencing homelessness as a youngster. “I’ll be honest: Where I am right now I didn’t really think I’d be up there.

“Starting from being homeless, receiving universal credit, it was a low step for me, there and then. I really didn’t think I would be that high right now.

“It’s shocking where I am right now. I’m in disbelief basically.”

John was homeless for a couple of days before the manager of the football team he played for intervened. He ended up living in a YMCA hostel and stayed there for a couple of years.

“It was a bit difficult looking for jobs,” said John, revealing that he had short spells as a warehouse worker and at a trampoline park.

“They cut my hours down, they cut my shifts down so I wanted to look for bigger and better things where it will help me in the future.”

Now, with the help of Project Flourish, John has just completed his probation working for a recruitment service and hopes it will be the first step on a new career path. He’s also been able to leave the YMCA set to move into own move-on flat.

As part of the collaboration, John received help with his rent deposit and a SIMBA mattress to help him get on with his new job.

“I recruit people basically. I review CVs, review candidates and then put them through screening. I’m chasing hiring managers, chasing candidates. I like it, it’s nice,” said John.

“I like the environment and the job. I like taking calls and sending emails, I like getting hour-long breaks and working from home. You get three days in the office and two days working from home and you can choose which days you’re in the office.

“If you get on with your work then it’s all good. I want to work my way up and try to become a manager here.”

It’s a pathway that Project Flourish is looking to emulate for other youngsters experiencing homelessness.

Youth unemployment is at an 11-year high, according to EveryYouth chief executive Nicholas Connolly.

There were 643,000 young people aged 16 to 24 unemployed between December 2024 to February 2025, up 105,000 than the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics. The unemployment rate for young people was 14.6%, up from 12.8% from the year before.

Meanwhile, youth homelessness has been on the rise too. A total of 118,134 young people were homeless or at risk of homelessness in the UK last year, according to Centrepoint.

Recent London rough sleeping statistics, released at the end of April, showed that there was a 29% increase in the number of young people aged between 18 and 25 sleeping rough compared to the same period last year.

“Young people experiencing homelessness are often at the back of the queue for jobs,” said Connolly. “Project Flourish, in collaboration with Hays, is a practical solution to help the country’s most disadvantaged young people into high quality sustainable work. 

“Alongside helping a young person to secure employment, the scheme’s Super Boost bursary removes financial barriers like travel costs, work clothing and rent deposit as they enter the world of work. Without this support, it is often impractical for young people to attend interviews, let alone start a new job.  

“Companies are also supported in adapting their recruitment practices and adopting management techniques that account for employee trauma. This approach makes the scheme hugely beneficial to both employers and young people.”

The progress made so far has seen Hays named an ‘activator’ partner in Homewards.

Prince William’s programme to tackle homelessness looks to test solutions on a local level before rolling them out nationwide.

Pim Gregory, executive director of homelessness at The Royal Foundation, said: “We know the impact that meaningful employment can have on the lives of those at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness and are excited to see the outcomes as we work with Hays and EveryYouth to roll out Project Flourish.

“Supporting young people with skills, training and employment opportunities can have a transformative impact on their lives and dramatically reduce their risk of becoming homeless. Partnerships such as this are therefore absolutely key to our broader mission to demonstrate that it is possible to end homelessness – making it rare, brief, and unrepeated.”

Project Flourish is not the only initiative working to help people on the margins into employment. Big Issue Recruit is a specialist person-centred recruitment service dedicated to supporting people who face barriers to joining the workforce into sustainable employment.

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