The Almshouse reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Almshouse

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Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people (typically elderly people who can no longer work to earn enough to pay rent) to live in a particular community. They are often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain forms of previous employment, or their widows.

In the Middle Ages the majority of European hospitals functioned as almshouses. See the history of hospitals.

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