About Us
The Fred Winter Centre is a community hub supporting local people in Stratford-upon-Avon, with a focus on providing housing plus a range of services which address homelessness and hardship.
Our Purpose
The Fred Winter Centre is a one stop hub for people in our local community, located in the heart of Stratford town centre. It is supported by many charities, businesses and public bodies, and is managed by an experienced housing association. All in one building, these partners and providers have come together to offer help and advice and provide affordable new homes.
As a multi-disciplinary community hub, the centre tackles hardship by providing a range of services to help people improve their health and wellbeing, overcome financial problems, secure job opportunities and sustain tenancies in local affordable homes. The Fred Winter Centre also provides access to self-contained affordable apartments within the same building. A community café and training kitchen will be coming to the centre in 2024.
The work at the Fred Winter Centre is made possible because of support from key partners. These include the following, many of which also form the Strategic Partnership Board for the Centre.
Department for Work & Pensions
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Department for Work & Pensions are committed to working with the Fred Winter Centre. Through the local Jobcentre it will support residents and those visitors to the centre to avail of opportunities to move from benefits towards work.
We will maximize the opportunities to access volunteering, work experience, training and employment. We will work with the centre partners & local employers to identify opportunities to run Sector Work Academies Programmes to support individuals take their first steps towards employment.
Homes England
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We’re the government’s housing accelerator, with the appetite, influence, expertise and resources to drive positive market change. By releasing more land to developers who want to make a difference, Homes England are making possible the new homes England needs, helping to improve neighbourhoods and grow communities.
Orbit Housing
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Orbit is one of the UK’s foremost housing groups, creating thriving communities for over 100,000 customers. We place our customers at the heart of what we do, continually invest in our communities and work collaboratively with our partners.
That’s why we’ll be in the Fred Winter Centre – giving customers the opportunity to visit our Better Days Hub. Our Better Days programme is about helping you to have a good day, every day. We support our customers beyond their residential needs and help thousands of people every year to find employment, improve their digital and money management skills and enhance their overall wellbeing.
Spring Housing Association
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Spring’s aim is to provide a pathway into affordable housing to adults with a history of homelessness. A dedicated team will work to create opportunities to access volunteering, training and employment as well as facilitating activities that promote happy and fulfilling lives.
We will provide accommodation with trauma informed and solution focussed support through partnership at the Fred Winter Centre and facilities for people who are living in precarious housing to access shower and laundry facilities.
The Fred Winter Centre will be host to vibrant community space for all to access with rooms available to hire for meetings and activities.
St Peter’s Housing Association
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St Peter’s (Saltley) is a small, community-based housing association located in Saltley, Birmingham. We are committed to helping our tenants to have sustainable tenancies and support them to become active members of the community. If a tenant has problems maintaining their tenancy, we can offer help and signpost them to find the right assistance, liaising with other agencies such as benefit agencies, Social Services, support networks or the police, where relevant.
Stratford Town Trust
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Stratford Town Trust have been at the heart of our community for over 500 years. Our grants typically provide around £2million in support to local schools, charities and community groups every year. We aim to create a connected and vibrant community by listening, connecting and supporting as many people as possible.
The Fred Winter Centre demonstrates a commitment to partnership working and we are proud that funding from Stratford Town Trust can play a part in bringing services together to provide vital help, advice and opportunity to those facing hardship, unemployment or homelessness.
Stratford-Upon-Avon District Council
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The last year has presented many challenges, not least of which has been the national drive to reduce rough sleeping through the government’s important ‘Everyone In’ work to protect rough sleepers from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The opening of the Fred Winter Centre by Spring Housing is a significant step in providing higher quality, settled, safe and secure accommodation for some of this group. The Council is already working closely with Spring Housing and providing financial support to ensure that the ‘Everyone In’ cohort, as well as others benefit from the accommodation provided and that there are a range of facilities and services in place to support residents and the wider community achieve their potential.
We are delighted to be working alongside partners at the centre and support the aspiration to deliver positive outcomes and joined up services. The Council will ensure that its housing service is accessible through the centre and that our expertise and resources are behind the Fred Winter Centre and those living and using the service, from day one.
Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council
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Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council is committed to help create a sustainable, caring and inclusive society which embraces all inhabitants in order to develop wellbeing, knowledge, understanding and mutual co-operation.
The Town Council is keen to support and work closely with the town’s charitable organisations, community groups and volunteers and was gratified to become a partner in the instigation and promotion of the Fred Winter Centre which it sees as cohesive hub, not just for safe housing and shelter, but a pathway out of poverty and the start of a brighter, better future for those in need of support.
A few words from The Chair
Chair of the board, Paul Spooner, is a local citizen who volunteers his time to support the Fred Winter Centre, in hope to make an impact on his community.
Homelessness is a persistent problem and those who have no home of their own often find themselves moving from one temporary provision to the next, this is neither sustainable nor does it address the root causes of homelessness. Learning from other support agencies, most homeless individuals are predominately single adult males.
The Fred Winter Centre addresses this challenge with support from Local Authorities, Charities and housing associations. The aim of the Fred Winter Centre is to show that through partnership working we can give local people in housing need, the best possible opportunity to live independently, in their own homes, and to overcome the complex challenges they often face.
The Fred Winter Centre brings together a wide range of support services, affordable self-contained apartments and opportunities to participate in vocational skills training and work experience. The Fred Winter Centre will be able to offer ‘joined up’ professional and caring support to both our residents and to anyone visiting the centre for advice. We welcome the opportunity to meet you at the Fred Winter Centre!