Lesson 3 - Responses to homelessness 

Welcome to the final lesson for Week E of our study into human wellbeing.  

In today’s lesson we will explore the impact of housing affordability on homelessness.

Watch the video for an introduction to this lesson.  

• This means that it is increasingly difficult for all Australians to buy a home. 

• It also means that rents are expensive. 

• Recently there has also been an increasing tendency for urban Australian’s to move to coastal or rural areas. This has meant that places where rents are traditionally cheaper have become much more expensive.  

All these factors cause hardship, stress and impact on wellbeing. In some cases, it pushes people into homelessness. 

A circle of viewpoints activity allows you to document your thinking from different perspectives. 

Use your readings on how real estate values and rents have changed over time, to complete a circle of viewpoints activity from the perspective of: 

1. a home owner who is seeing the value of their home go up 

2. a person who used to rent in a quiet country town but is now living in their car. 

For each of the parties, complete the following thinking routine: 

1. I am thinking of the rapidly rising real estate values and rent from the viewpoint of…… 

2. I think ... (describe the topic from your viewpoint. Be an actor, take on the character of your viewpoint)  

3. A question I have from this viewpoint is ... (ask a question from this viewpoint)

Throughout our unit on wellbeing, we have explored spatial equality, homelessness and other wellbeing issues. 

Using the knowledge that you have gained in this lesson regarding housing affordability and your previous learning about spatial equality, compose a response to the following:  

• ‘Predict the impact of rapidly rising house prices on spatial equality in Australia.’