An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital)[1][2] is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain forms of previous employment, or their widows, and at elderly people who could no longer pay rent, and are generally maintained by a charity or the trustees of a bequest (alms are, in the Christian tradition, money or services donated to support the poor and indigent). Almshouses were originally formed as extensions of the church system and were later adapted by local officials and authorities.
- ^ Bremner, Robert Hamlett. The Discovery of Poverty in the United States. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 9781412836555.
- ^ Dent, Susie (2012). Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 19th. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers. 32. ISBN 978-0550-107-640. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2019-06-17.