This post links to the series ‘Charity and the people behind them’ but also with my previous post on homelessness.

A colleague of mine mentioned Octavia Trust when I was talking about my blog post series and I thought I’d do a little digging; find out some more about her.

She was a very interesting and pioneering woman indeed who grew up in Finchley – a few miles down the road from where I currently live and the location of Elisa’s Tutorial School – after her family moved there from Cambridgeshire.

During her lifetime, Octavia Hill formed the Horace Street Trust. The trust became a model for many subsequent housing associations and developed into the Trust that bears her name today, Octavia Housing and Care. It owns several of the homes, including Gable Cottages, designed by Elijah Hoole, who worked with Octavia for many years.

From the outset, Octavia Hill aimed to provide a community space, a community hall, and well- maintained houses that were attractive.  In 1888, on the Red Cross site in Southwark, she anticipated the fundamental ingredients of town planning by some fifteen years.

If you’d like to know more about her here.

If you did click on the link above, you will see why I included Octavia in my charity series. Homelessness is one of the causes I really hope to help and her philosophy of wanting everyone in Britain to have a decent home was something I would love to see too. Unfortunately, since her involvement and proposals things have changed enormously. Mainly due to the population growth as well as free movement of people across country boundaries too.

And let’s not forget that homelessness does not only effect older people but young people and youths too.

Until next time, stay safe, Elisa x

Special Offers at Elisa’s Tutorial School here