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Fuggerei: the world’s first public housing (2022)

In 1521, a German merchant and banker known as Jakob Fugger 'the Rich' funded and built the first social settlement in the world

Known as Fuggerei after its founders' family name, the settlement is a planned gated community of sorts, located within the borders of the southern city of Augsburg in today's Germany. The deed also stipulated an exact definition of a Fuggerei tenant - an Augsburg resident, a Catholic, and a respectable person; and defined the rent due - one Rheinish florin yearly (equivalent to €0.88) and three daily prayers in honour of Jakob Fugger himself. While the three daily prayers for Jakob Fugger are not enforced, the community does check with the local parish to ascertain that the tenants are Catholic and residents of Augsburg for at least two years.

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