Celebrating 100 years - Olga Blackman

Olga Florence Blackham, born in 1896, was in the first committee of the Ethical Union Housing Association, later to change its name to the Humanist Housing Association (HHA) in 1965. The housing association came about as a result of Humanists wanting to do something practical in light of the need for social housing.

The main aim of the association was to provide self-contained accommodation to people in need, focusing particularly on older people, people with older dependents or people experiencing mental health problems.

A group of Ethical Union members including Olga got together to start the association. The Ethical Union Housing Association was registered in 1954 and launched in January the following year. 45 years after it was established, it merged with St Pancras Housing Association to become St Pancras & Humanist Housing Association.

The HHA’s second project was ‘Blackham House’, opened in 1973 in honour of Olga and her husband Harold Blackham.