Octavia Hill and the Social Housing Debate

Octavia Hill (1838-1912) was famous for her work among the poor, particularly in the field of housing, where she developed a unique system. Whilst most of the philanthropic housing societies built model dwellings for respectable working-class tenants, Octavia went to the poor who were far from being respectable. Instead of building new dwellings, she would take over existing ones, often in the worst areas, complete with their existing tenants, and set about improving tenants and tenements together. Her work with the tenants involved finding employment, encouraging savings and giving advice and assistance wherever possible - short of hand-outs. She insisted that her tenants, poor as they were, must pay their way, and she was able to show a five per cent return on capital to the owners of all her properties. As her fame spread, more and more owners of working-class housing wanted to put their properties under her care, and she had a waiting list of supporters willing to buy housing for her to manage. By the time of her death she was managing nearly two thousand houses and flats, including large estates belonging to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. Her work for the poor included the open spaces movement and she was one of the co-founders of the National Trust.Because her observations on social housing are so relevant to the debate today, this selection of her writings and talks (some never published before) has been included in the Rediscovered Riches series as a means of deepening debate by drawing on the lessons of the last century.