Daily AncestorOutdoor relief
Outdoor relief was poor relief given to people outside an institution, such as cash, food or fuel at home, instead of making them enter a poorhouse.
The term comes from English poor law and is the opposite of indoor relief. In Maine, support given in the pauper's own home or in another person's home both counted as outdoor relief, so boarding a pauper with a neighbor was outdoor relief too.
A Massachusetts committee led by Josiah Quincy in 1821 called relief in families the most wasteful kind and urged almshouses instead. Yet outdoor relief never went away: in the 1880s Massachusetts aided about twice as many people outside institutions as inside, at far lower cost per person.
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Daily Ancestor. "Outdoor relief." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/poor-relief/outdoor-relief. Last checked 2026-10-03.