Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany: We need to tackle society's problems together
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany says homelessness can be solved if society works collectively.
The Belgian international explained that he felt compelled to help to set an example to his children and has launched the charity Tackle4MCR.
In 2017 the number of long-term homeless people rose by 41 per cent to 500, showing that the problem is getting worse in the city Kompany has called home since 2008.
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Kompany believes the starting point to solve the issue is to end rough sleeping and provide sufficient accommodation for those on the streets.
"As you can see there are a lot of cranes going up left, right and centre, so it's a city that is progressing and developing," Kompany told ITV News.
"At the same time, I don't think it's anyone's desire to leave anyone behind.
"If we can have moments of solidarity and let the community be what it's designed to be there to do, I think we have a chance.
"I think it's [homelessness] an issue that can be solved, it's something we can tackle face on and a bed every night is basically what it says: that we first deal with the issue of rough sleeping and that we can then deal with the whole issue of homelessness and the causes of it to make sure it doesn't happen."
Racism has become more prevalent in football in recent times, including the high-profile imagery of Kompany's City team-mate Raheem Sterling being allegedly abused by a Chelsea supporter.
Kompany himself pities the culprit and believes the racist influence in the football stands is part of a wider issue in society, relating to a lack of diversity in influential roles across industries.
"When I look at this guy screaming at Raheem, I feel sorry for the guy, not Raheem, because it is the guy who is clearly lacking a lot of things in his life and it is that guy who clearly lacks education, the ability to just be comfortable with himself.
"When I look at the really issue - and why it doesn't get dealt with appropriately - it is really the boardroom issue, as no company in this country or the whole of Europe, back home in Belgium it is worse than in England, no decision is made with a little bit of balance. "There is no person in the boardroom that actually say 'well guys, I came from that background ... I grew up with this ... careful with that ... that's how it's going to be perceived'.
"These individuals are idiots but there's a broader aspect to these things."
Sterling said after the incident that the media needed to take more responsibility for their output and Kompany reflects that by saying that organisations often have a very blinkered view on events.
"It's a broader issue which I feel very strongly about. I don't think it's as simple as one person writing the article and himself being racist, I think people just lack knowledge sometimes or lack oversight.
"If you go to the root of the issue, if you think of it, you always need someone to tell you to be careful about this, to make sure you look at it from a different angle and that simply happens as we look at football today, the music industry and TV and we see a lot of coloured faces, black faces, people from different backgrounds, so we think everything's OK but the reality is if you check every single boardroom in the country there are probably very few black people in there or people from different backgrounds, meaning that those who are actually responsible to keep in check those organisations aren't even looking at it from the same angle and mistakes happen because of that and I think there is an incapacity to deal with it because there isn't a balanced conversation."
Kompany says one of the causes of Brexit could be the fact that the country has become more intolerant, aided by an ease to place blame on easy targets within society.
"The biggest mistake is that we usually look at things from the wrong angle, I think.
"If Brexit is perhaps a result of this way of thinking, then that says a lot about when we are now as a country, as a society.
"Where we're at in history now, we have very little tolerance, we're very quick to jump on the conclusion 'it's these guys, it's their fault' and there's no other way to look at it, it's that way and the harsher the statement and harder the statement the more you can get yourself onto the front stage."