About us
Welcome to Octavia Foundation, registered charity no (1065817).
As part of the Abri Octavia family, the Foundation is our lead driver of social purpose. We work alongside residents, colleagues and local partners in the places where need is greatest, showing up consistently and building trust over time. We don’t believe in quick fixes. Instead, we commit to neighbourhoods for the long term, focusing our resources where they can make the biggest difference.
Our work combines immediate support like income, energy and crisis advice, and investing in youth and their development with place‑based investment that strengthens communities and wellbeing. We start by listening. Using local insight and experience we shape support that reflects what people need and build on the strengths already in our communities.
Inspired by Octavia Hill’s pioneering legacy, we act with care, curiosity and compassion. We believe everyone deserves a safe, warm and affordable home, a community where they belong, and the opportunity to improve their life chances. Everything we do is guided by fairness, dignity and respect.
Get involved:
Whether you’re looking for support, want to partner with us, or are interested in funding our work, we’d love to hear from you.
The Octavia Foundation is part of the wider Abri Octavia family.
Octavia Hill
We were established by Octavia, a housing association with an excellent reputation for high quality, affordable homes, to continue and develop the legacy of our namesake, Octavia Hill.
Octavia was founded by Octavia Hill, the Victorian philanthropist and social reformer, whose ideas formed the basis of the profession of housing management. Octavia began her work with the poor of London in the 1860s; she was a pioneer of social housing, a founder of the National Trust and the first clean air campaigner for London.
Octavia’s philosophy was ‘to make homes happy, lives noble and family life good’. She believed that communities were about the people living in them and not just the buildings they lived in. Her principles, which continue to resonate, included a commitment not just to good housing but to a wider sense of responsibility to ‘her people’ - those that were housed.