Fuggery
More than 500 years after the Fuggerei neighborhood was born in Augsburg, rents remain below one euro. There are rules to follow, unchanged since 1521.
Imagine, for a second, that you only paid 88 cents a year in rent. Yes, you read that right and it’s real: welcome to Fuggery.
Located in Augsburg, Fuggerei is the oldest social housing project in the world and continues to provide subsidized housing to residents of the Bavarian city in a situation of economic need.
Today, around 150 people live in Fuggerei, spread across 140 apartments. Fuggerei receives between 30 and 40 applications per year, with a waiting list that currently has 80 people.
Opportunity to start over
Noel Guobadia is a good-natured 27-year-old young man who has lived in Fuggerei since he was a teenager. The mother, who was single at the time, was experiencing financial difficulties when she moved to the neighborhood with Noel and her younger brother. At first, I was apprehensive.
“It’s an old neighborhood where, at the time, most of the people living there were elderly, and I was constantly worried about how this was going to work,” he told DW in 2022. “We were the first family with an obvious migration background. Some of the residents might have been shocked.”
Fuggerei’s setup, which provides meeting spaces and encourages social interaction between neighbors, helped dispel any hesitations.
“Communication solves everything,” said Guobadia. “We all sit together on the terrace. You occasionally help someone set up the television and suddenly it’s like you have a second family.”
At age 20, he moved into his own apartment in Fuggereijust two doors away from his mother and brother. He considers the “Omis and Opis” (grandmothers and grandfathers) of Fuggerei friends: they share jokes and beers, and he receives advice.
One of the most unique aspects of Fuggerei is the annual income, unchanged, of one Rhenish guilder — Rhineland gold coin, used in the 14th and 15th centuries. One of these florins corresponds to less than 1 euro in today’s currency.
For Guobadia, the low cost of living at Fuggerei was an opportunity to develop as a young adult without the crushing stress of trying to pay rent.
“[A Fuggerei] took away one of my biggest fears: I was able to live with the little money I earned during my internship, because that large burden of income no longer existed”, he said. “They gave me the opportunity to focus on myself and start building foundations for my life.”
A community
Ilona Barber, at Fuggerei for six years, also no longer finds it difficult to survive on her meager pension.
“At Christmas, I received the message that the apartment was mine. It was my Christmas present”, said the 71-year-old woman. He moved into a 55 square meter ground floor apartment, two dogs, two cats and six birds, and became a regular presence at Fuggerei.
When she’s not working the cash register by the entrance gate, charging entry fees to tourists — one of Fuggerei’s sources of income — she runs errands for neighbors and participates in community events, like movie nights and coffee dates.
“I really value the solidarity, the community we have here,” he said. “And the fact that you don’t have to count every penny.”
Fuggerei also gives residents access to two social workersincluding Doris Herzog, whose responsibilities include receiving and analyzing applications, mediating conflicts between neighbors and helping with bureaucratic tasks.
“I contact health insurers, medical services and often accompany people to their meetings to ensure they get what they need to continue living as independently as possible in their own homes,” explained Herzog.
The rules of Fuggerei
It’s not just the Fuggerei’s income that has remained unchanged since 1521. Another fundamental rule: residents have to pray for the founder, Jakob Fugger, three times a day.
The condition is part of the rental contract and is linked to another requirement for living at Fuggerei: tenants must be Catholic.
Although it is quite difficult to verify that all residents observe the three daily prayers, Herzog confirms the candidates’ status with the parish secretariat, to ensure that they belong to the Catholic community.
Candidates must also be official residents of Augsburg and those who can do so are expected to help with small tasks at Fuggerei, such as gardening or working as a night watchman.
After 10pm, the Fuggerei gates officially close. Residents who want to enter after this time have to pay a small symbolic amount to the night guard on duty, normally 50 cents.
“A village within a city”
The neighborhood resembles a kind of medieval gated community, with green spaces, a small square where residents can sit on the surrounding benches and catch up, and a fountain. Residents and staff often describe Fuggerei as “a village within a city”.
The neighborhood’s name comes from its founder, , a prominent Augsburg merchant and businessman, whose family was synonymous with the copper trade. Although Fugger required tenants to pray for him three times a day as a way to reduce his own time in purgatory, he was also a pioneer in creating affordable housing for the poor.
Astrid Gabler, director of communications at the Fugger Foundation, says Fugger’s idea of creating a space for impoverished citizens to regain stability was unusual for the time.
“Fugger gave people the ability to have the right to privacy when they fell into poverty,” he said.
At the time, impoverished families were often separated and sent to workhouses.
“Fugger kept families together”explained Gabler. “I believed that families that had privacy had a better chance of getting back on their feet.”
On August 23, 1521, Fugger signed the decree that founded the Fuggerei. The neighborhood would continue to grow and change as the centuries progressed: more apartments were added, as well as a souvenir shop and a museumfor the growing number of tourists who visit it every year. During the Second World War, a bunker to protect residents from bombings.
Fuggerei as a model
Gabler said a key component of the 500th anniversary celebration was the so-called “Fugger Code”a plan for future Fuggerei around the world.
“Jakob Fugger created Fuggerei ‘in exemplum’, that is, as a model”, he said. “We want people to think about building the Fuggerei of the future around the world.”
Fuggerei belongs to the Fugger Foundation and is supported by a fund managed by a senior board, made up of current elite members of the Fugger family.
Thus, although Fuggerei advocates, on the one hand, sustainable and independent social housing, on the other it remains closely linked to generations of the Fugger family.
Will the Fuggerei of the future follow this model, based on private wealth, or will they be publicly funded foundations? Or a combination of both? These are questions yet to be explored.
