Recognised as one of the leading almshouse providers, SJMT is proud to have been a lead partner with UCL on a 30 month research project to build Almshouse Resilient Communities, with Zoe Richardson, SJMT Deputy CEO being recognised as an author of this research.
The Knowledge Hub on Resilience in Almshouse Communities (ARC for the Future - United St Saviour's Charity (ustsc.org.uk)) is now live. As the climate becomes more extreme, and ‘shock events’ such as pandemics more common, we need to boost resilience of communities as well as the built environment. UCL has led the research project with seven community partners who provide high-quality accommodation for older residents. Some of these almshouse charities, including SJMT, have been in place for hundreds of years, and from them, we have learnt much about resilience, not only for almshouse communities but for society more generally.
The Knowledge Hub provides a free resource to almshouse residents and staff, to social housing providers and to anyone interested in strengthening our communities to deal with change. The Hub presents 30 themes and a number of Case Studies relating to resilience, drawing on the words and experience of residents, staff and trustees in communities whose roots go back centuries and who are still developing and building new accommodation for their localities.
The project is the largest and most comprehensive research project with English almshouse communities.
Dr Niamh Murtagh, the Principal Investigator for the project, said:
‘We are delighted to announce the launch of the Knowledge Hub. We hope it will offer a valuable set of resources to anyone involved in providing housing for older people or, in fact, any form of social housing. The lessons we learnt from our wonderful almshouse community partners can be applied to any community. We looked at resilience through the lenses of social resilience, built environment resilience and governance resilience, and the themes in the Knowledge Hub acknowledge how interconnected these are.”
As a lead partner, we would not have been able to take part in this research without the input of our residents, staff and trustees so we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who had an input to help shape the future of almshouse communities.
You can find out more by visiting the ARC Knowledge Hub by clicking here
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