In May this year, the Duke of Gloucester went to the opening of a new almshouse, Dovehouse Court. The house, the first of its kind in the UK, is Passivhaus-accredited, which means it meets the highest standards of energy efficiency.
Designed by Mole Architects and commissioned by Girton Town Charity, the development preserves the principles of traditional almshouse design with shared gardens and a community courtyard.
Between 400 and 500 almshouse dwellings are built each year, but it’s not enough to meet the demand.
“As society increasingly values the importance of a strong neighbour group, the demand for this type of community model far outweighs the supply,” says Phillips.
The problem is a lack of philanthropic activity – there hasn’t been a new almshouse charity established in the UK since 1983.
“Almshouses can provide a life-changing model not just for older people but also a very real problem among our youth – a lack of affordable housing, particularly in rural areas – as well as refugees and those leaving the care system. But most now think that housing is taken care of by the state.”
It gets more complicated. The Government won’t release affordable housing funding to small-scale charities unless they turn themselves into housing associations. And when charities build new almshouses, some local councils treat them as standard property developers and demand they contribute funds to affordable housing – precisely what they are supplying.
Almshouses will continue well into the next century, believes Philips, the model has been resilient to plagues, the Civil War and world wars.
“In order to speed up the ability to build more, we need more philanthropists to step forward with funding, the freeing up of government money to support the model and more trustees volunteering. If we had these things, we believe it would spark a renaissance in almshouse building in this country.”