The Lifehouse: Distributed community support centers for the Long Emergency

On repurposing churches as community-created and run spaces

I like this idea a lot. As Adam mentions, a lot of the functions of what he calls the “Lifehouse” (foodbank, place to gather, free wifi and charging, a form of childcare and even foodbanks) are provided by libraries. The difference is, these would be created and run by small, local communities.

Ironically enough, Tory-run Suffolk suggested this model (in theory, at least) when they divested libraries in 2012. In the same way that Jacob Rees-Mogg finds foodbanks “heartwarming”, devolving services from state-control means that you no longer have to provide them.