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ost people today have
no idea that the Catholic Church was the first Western institution to provide hospitals and housing for the poor.(For an example of a medieval Catholic hospital, click here.)
The Fuggerei, a walled village within the Bavarian city of Augsburg, is considered the oldest still-operating social housing program in the world. It is over 500 years old.
Founded by the wealthy Fugger family in 1516, the Fuggerei was built to be a place where the disabled, homeless, and disenfranchised of the city could find refuge.
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