A 16th-century banking family built a social housing project that still charges medieval rent
The Fuggerei in Augsburg, founded in 1521, remains the world's oldest social housing project, still charging its residents the original medieval rent of less than one euro per year.
Jakob Fugger, perhaps the wealthiest banker in history, established the Fuggerei to provide affordable housing for the industrious poor of Augsburg. Fugger had built a staggering fortune through silver and copper mining and by lending to the Habsburg emperors at 12 percent interest. To temper the religious criticism of his vast wealth, he created a perpetual endowment that allowed residents to live in the complex for a rent of one Rhenish guilder annually.
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