The
housing project in
Augsburg built for the
poor by
Jakob Fugger.
Fugger, one of the most
rich and powerful individuals in 16th century
Europe, built the Fuggerei to house the poor and
elderly, who pay a nominal rental fee of about 2
Deutschmarks per year and pray for the
departed souls of the Fuggers.
This can either be seen as a generous act of a philanthropist, or a self-serving attempt to enlist cheap labor to help grease the path to Heaven for the Fuggers.