Wimbledon Foundation has partnered with Crisis in a bid to tackle homelessness during the winter months.

The Foundation, the charitable arm of The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), has committed £270,000 to Crisis to fund six new roles for one year.

The charity will focus on the urgent housing needs of people leaving temporary accommodation or made newly homeless as a result of Covid-19.

Crisis’ housing-led approach will prioritise people having somewhere they can call home and giving them additional support to help keep it.

Wimbledon Times: A homeless person sleeping rough in a doorwayA homeless person sleeping rough in a doorway

Jon Sparkes, Chief Executive of Crisis, said: “Since the onset of the pandemic, it has never been clearer why it’s important that everyone has a safe, secure home.

"The Government’s ‘Everyone In’ scheme moved people into emergency accommodation so that they could safely isolate.

"We started to see how homelessness could be ended by providing people with somewhere to live and the tailored support they need.

"Thanks to partners like the Wimbledon Foundation, Crisis is now putting rapid rehousing at the heart of our services going forward and redoubling our efforts to rehome people as quickly as possible."

The Wimbledon Foundation has also extended its funding for the provision of hot, nutritious meals for those most in need within the community.

Wimbledon Times: AELTC/Ben Queenborough.AELTC/Ben Queenborough.

Since the end of May, the foundation has prepared 20,000 meals for more than 25 different organisations and community groups, with one third going to people who are homeless.

Head of the Wimbledon Foundation, Helen Parker said: “The coronavirus outbreak has magnified the problems that already existed for those without homes and continues to bring many more people to the brink of becoming homeless.

"Food poverty is also a continuing issue - The Trussell Trust which runs foodbanks nationally reported an 89% increase in demand between April 2019 and April 2020 with more than half of the people using foodbanks since the start of the pandemic doing so for the first time.

"In response to this, the Foundation is building on our support of homelessness and food provision services to support those most severely affected by the crisis, including over the challenging Christmas period.”