What is an almshouse?
Almshouses are dwellings managed by a charitable trust as low-cost housing in which the residents are legally beneficiaries of a charity rather than tenants. The philanthropic model has endured for centuries but the form varies widely across the 1,600 charities in place today.
The almshouse movement offers an alternative model for housing for older people, and a valuable potential partner for local authorities. With over 36,000 residents living in almshouse accommodation, there is much we can learn about developing resilient communities in good quality homes. From a research perspective, it can be challenging to identify a community and to examine its dynamics. However, almshouse communities offer a microcosm of community living. With our almshouse partners, the project has provided excellent opportunities for lessons which can generalise to the broader community.
For more information on almshouse charities, see The Almshouse Association which supports and represents almshouse charities across the UK.
What is resilience?
Resilience is an adaptive response of a system to change, such that the system is better able to cope with future change.
The term resilience is in wide use, in policy and in the media. Academic perspectives try to specify what the term means. We have taken what is called a socio-ecological perspective. This argues that resilience is an adaptive response of a system to change, such that the system is better able to cope with future change. Further, the system, in terms of key components and relationships, continues in a recognisable form over time. The ‘system’ in question here is an almshouse community. And that community comprises the residents, the operational staff, the senior staff, the trustees, and the sites and buildings belonging to the charity.
In terms of the changes that an almshouse community may face, we had in mind very impactful ‘shock events’ such as the Covid pandemic and the climate crisis, as well as events that are impactful at a more local level. These could be the loss of a long-standing member of staff, the closure of a bus route to the local shopping area or a need to change heating systems.
