Almshouse research and published material

It is important to The Almshouse Association to raise awareness of almshouses, to highlight the benefits of almshouse living and to demonstrate the vital role they play in the provision of genuinely affordable homes for people in housing need.

Below you will find a library of reports and articles that have been published on almshouses, the almshouse movement and related issues in recent years. To access, please click on the respective links below:

RESEARCH & REPORTS

Loneliness and isolation in elderly and vulnerable people – By David Foster, Helena Carthew, Katherine Garratt, John Woodhouse, Siobhan Wilson	click link click for pdf download		Debate Pack	House of Commons Library	Nov 2023
Almshouse Longevity Study: Can living in an almshouse lead to a longer life? – research undertaken by Bayes Business School, City, University of London	click link		Research Report	commissioned by The Almshouse Association	May 2023
Understanding the impact of almshouse charities in the covid pandemic – research undertaken by The Smith Institute	report link event recording link		Research Report	commissioned by The Almshouse Association	Oct 2022
Housing our ageing population – commissioned by the LGA from the Housing Learning and Improvement Network (authors: Ian Copeman and Lois Beech),	click link		Report	LGA/HLIN	Sept 2022
Older People’s Care in Social Housing: A Manifesto for Change – research sponsored by The Guinness Partnership, Housing 21 and Devonshires	click link		Research Report	Altair	June 2022
Keeping Communities Together: How smaller social landlords and community-led housing can provide affordable, secure, local accommodation for communities in need – Eleanor Benton, Ruby Russell and Anne Power	click link		Case report	LSE Housing & Communities	2022
The Almshouse Association Financial Benefits of Almshouses – Assessment Report	click link		Research	Housing LIN	Nov 2021
What is affordable housing? – written by Wendy Wilson and Cassie Barton	click link		Briefing Paper	House of Commons	April 2021
Almshouses: a model of community housing for an ageing population – written Jenny Pannell & Alison Pooley	click link		Research	RICS	Dec 2020
Coming Home – tackling the housing crisis together – The Commission of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York	click link		Report	commissioned by The Church of England	Feb 2021
A 21st Century eco-almshouse: St. John’s Almshouses, Lichfield – compiled by Lorin Arnold, Associate, KKE Architects	click link		Case Study	Housing LIN	Jan 2019
Almshouses for homeless people: Sir Thomas White Court, Worcester – Written for the Housing Learning and Improvement Network by Frazer Bufton, Director at Lett + Sweetland Architects	click link		Case Study	Housing LIN	Aug 2019
Transforming almshouses for the 21st century – Written for the Housing Learning and Improvement Network by Jenny Pannell, independent consultant	click link		Report	Housing LIN	Jun 2013
Almshouses into the next millennium – Paternalism, partnership, progress?	click link		Report	Jenny Pannell Caroline Thomas	1999

NEWS ARTICLES & BLOGS

‘A model of social responsibility’ – almshouses in the modern age – Gillian Darley, Architect  for Apollo magazine		click here	online magazine article	Apollo – the international art magazine	2 Feb 2024
Live better, live longer: the retirement home that’s more like an alpine spa – Oliver Wainwright for The Guardian		click here	news article	The Guardian	Nov 2023
The John Morden Centre – Named winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize 2023 – multiple articles published by various news outlets inc. FT, Guardian, RIBA, Big Issue, collated into one article		click here	various	various	Oct 2023
Appleby Blue almshouse and its residents sit firmly in the community – – “Witherford Watson Mann’s Southwark almshouse gives ordinary older people the kind of housing that is normally the preserve of the wealthy” – Eleanor Young for RIBA Journal		pdf click here web link here	web article	RIBA Journal	Oct 2023
Appleby Blue Almshouse: a blueprint for 21st-century housing – BY Giovanna Dunmall for Wallpaper* Witherford Watson Mann reinvents the almshouse for modern city life – Architecture Today		pdf link web link pdf link web link	web article web article	Wallpaper* Architecture Today	Oct 2023
Why I’m happy being a Brother – Laurie Graham, novelist, scriptwriter and Charterhouse resident – for The Spectator magazine		pdf link web link	magazine and web article	The Spectator	Sept 2023
Inside the new breed of almshouse – Emily Rhodes for The FT		pdf link web link	news article	Financial Times	Sept 2023
Charles Fifield: Become a SLIMBY – Something Logical In My Back Yard – Charles Fifield for Conservative Home		click here	web article	Conservative Home	Aug 2023
The importance of Almshouses – Jan Goffey for The Moorlander		click here	web article	The Moorlander	Aug 2023
‘View from here’ – They may sound like a quaint architectural anachronism but almshouses could be as relevant today as they ever were – Susy Smith for Country Living		click here	magazine column	Country Living	June 2023
Letter from London: Almshouses, Amis and Assange – Peter Bach for COUNTERPUNCH		pdf web link	website blog	COUNTERPUNCH	May 2023
‘Affordable and stress free’: how almshouses are the unsung heroes of UK social housing – Amelia Hill for the Guardian newspaper, Social Housing Almshouse residents may live up to two and a half years longer, study finds – Amelia Hill for the Guardian newspaper, Social Housing		click here click here	news article	Guardian	22 May 2023
What are almshouses? – Caroline Roberts for ‘Who do you think you are?’ magazine		online – click here pdf – click here	magazine article	Who do you think you are	Mar 2023
Why Derby’s almshouses are still important today – Louise Jones		click here	magazine feature	Great British Life	Mar 2023
Ewelme, Oxfordshire: The medieval almshouses set up by Chaucer’s grand-daughter and still running today – Toby Keel		click here	magazine feature	Country Life	Feb 2023
Local History: ‘BIGG’ ambitions for almshouses – Gerry Harmon on behalf of The Almshouse Association		click here	magazine feature	Round and About Wokingham	Feb 2023
Heritage: Finding Friendship – Gary Lawrence for Wiltshire Life		click here	magazine feature	Wiltshire Life	Dec 2022
Heritage: Providing a safe haven over the centuries – Gary Lawrence for Wiltshire Life		click link	magazine feature	Wiltshire Life	Nov 2022
Heritage: Centuries of supporting independence – Gary Lawrence for Wiltshire Life		click link	magazine feature	Wiltshire Life	Oct 2022
Supporting Farming Communities – Two leading charities are seeking landowners interested in the potential of an affordable housing project for farming communities		click link	magazine feature	Country Land and Business Assoc.	June 2022
Secrets of Essex almshouses – Denise Marshall for Essex Life		online story link Magazine link	magazine feature	Great British Life	29 Jun 2022
Almshouses: What they are, how they were created and why they’re still relevant in the 21st century – Clive Aslet for Country Life		online copy magazine copy	magazine feature	Country Life	13 Mar 2022
Understanding almshouses – featured in LCR magazine		click link	news item	NALC	2021
Expanding the provision of almshouses to improve our future communities – Nick Phillips CEO, The Almshouse Association		click link	blog	NALC	Nov 2021
Almshouses: The historic model, fit for the future – Nick Phillips CEO, The Almshouse Association		click link	blog	National Housing Federation	Nov 2021
Open alms: the almshouse charities building new homes Insight by Caroline Thorpe for Inside Housing		click link	article	Inside Housing magazine	13 Oct 2021
Don’t forget almshouses – Comment by Lord Best in Inside Housing		click link	Comment	Inside Housing Magazine	13 Oct 2021
Remember a Charity – Pass it on – The Almshouse Association with Dan Cruickshank		click link	article	Daily Telegraph	10 Oct 2021
HLIN Viewpoint 100 Almshouses for the 21st Century – transformation in progress – Written for the Housing Learning and Improvement Network		click link	Viewpoint	Housing LIN	Apr 2021
Answering the 21st century call to alms – Laura Silverman for The Daily Telegraph		click link	article	The Daily Telegraph	29 Feb 2021
Britain is building almshouses at fastest rate since the Victorian era – Milly Vincent for Mail online		click link	news item	Mail online	Jan 2020
Return of almshouses for the vulnerable could help solve Britain’s housing crisis – Patrick Sawyer for The Telegraph		click link	news item	The Telegraph	Jan 2020
Almshouses being built at fastest rate in decades – Becky Johnson for Sky News		click link	news item	Sky News	3 Jan 2020
The solution to ageing Britain’s housing crisis? Build almshouses – Harriett Sherwood for The Guardian		click link	news item	The Guardian	27 Oct 2019
Almshouse boom helps poor pensioners – Tom Ball for The Times		click link	news item	The Times	14 Oct 2019
Ageing well: a collection of innovative thinking		click link	Collection	The Whiteley Foundation for Ageing Well	2017
Almshouses in Kent – ancient and modern – Sarah Sturt for Great British Life		click link	article	Great British Life	Sept 2014
Visiting a 900-year-old almshouse – Insight by Simon Brandon for Inside Housing		click link	article	Inside Housing	18 July 2014
Almshouses – a model for the future? – Anne Diamond’s BBC Blog		click link	Blog	BBC ID webpage	1 Dec 2010
Why almshouses have a place in 21st century Sussex – Geraldine Constantine		clink link	article	Great British Life	19 April 2010