Almshouses

Free Retirement Accommodation, Free Sheltered Accommodation, Affordable Housing Accommodation.

Almshouses are charitable affordable housing provided to enable the elderly and people in retirement to live in their chosen community.

Almshouses can trace their history back to the 10th century up to the present day. They were originally devised as places of residence for the poor and elderly. Typically, almshouses would provide freemor affordable accommodation for elderly people who can no longer work to earn enough to pay rent and for other groups such as ex-armed forces personnel and those with limited financial means.

Almshouses enable people to live in a particular community free of charge or at minimal costs. They are often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain forms of previous employment, or their widows, and are generally maintained by a charity or the trustees of a bequest.

However increasingly almshouses are also helping to accommodate the young, the disabled and key workers freely or at minimal costs in their communities. In many rural areas, almshouses are the only source of affordable housing accommodation for those in need and play an important role in the UK social housing landscape.

There is no strict delineation between Almshouses and other forms of social housing or sheltered housing such as care homes and nursing homes, although Almshouses will tend to be characterised by their charitable status and by the aim of supporting the continued independence of their residents or of those in need. Search our directory to find cheap and affordable housing accommodation provided by almshouses charities and almshouses housing associations.