Octavia Howell

Octavia Howell helps manage Pew’s Philadelphia research and policy team. She leads the initiative’s housing research portfolio, which explores how poverty and local economic trends affect the availability, affordability, and quality of housing in the city. She is an expert and primary author on Pew reports addressing poverty and safe, affordable housing in Philadelphia.

Prior to her time at Pew, Howell worked for the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, where she focused on geospatial analysis, community engagement, and housing. She is a native of Philadelphia.

An HBCU alumna, Howell holds a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer sciences from Oakwood University and a master’s in urban and regional planning from Alabama A&M University.