Apartments for the homeless filling up at Fred Winter Centre in Stratford

IT’S been a busy few months at the Fred Winter Centre (FWC) and the vibes are positive as more projects to help homeless and vulnerable people were recently revealed.

FWC management confirmed to the Herald that nine of the 15 apartments are now occupied by local people, an IT hub will help with CV writing and employability enabling people to look for work, there’s a gardening project planned, arts projects, a series of skills and wellbeing sessions hosted by Crisis and there’s also a breakfast club.

Jonathan Ruane, assistant head of housing with Spring Housing and service manager of FWC has worked in the housing sector for ten years, he told the Herald: “Fred Winter Centre is fully operational now, so we move into the next phase of community engagement. People know the Fred Winter Centre and we thought it important to keep the name in respect to the family who do come and visit us. It’s a beautiful place to work, a hive of activity and a great atmosphere. Most days it’s just buzzing. This design is popular in Scandinavia where there are two or three organisations on site to help residents.”