Design Your Housing Future

Most of us have opinions about housing — but have you ever mapped out what you actually need, what you can realistically afford, and what you'd have to sacrifice?

What do you need?

List five things a home must have for you — not wants, genuine needs. Think space, location, stability, cost, community.

Rank your needs

Number your five items from most to least important. Be honest — if you had to cut two, which two would survive the cut?

Need 11 2 3 4 5

Need 21 2 3 4 5

Need 31 2 3 4 5

Need 41 2 3 4 5

Need 51 2 3 4 5

Keep or cut?

Sort your five needs into two zones: 'non-negotiable' and 'I could sacrifice this'. Then defend your hardest cut in one sentence.

Non-negotiable

I could sacrifice this

The core decision

In one line, write the single most important housing decision you will face in the next five years — buy, rent, move, stay, share, or something else entirely.

Stress-test it

Look back at step 2 — does your ranking still support the decision you wrote in step 4? Mark where the tension is on the spectrum below.

My ranking supports it

My ranking contradicts it

One concrete improvement

Name one realistic thing — a behaviour, a saving habit, a conversation, a plan — that would make your step 4 decision more achievable within two years.

What did you build?

Write one word that captures the housing situation you're designing toward. Then write one sentence explaining why that word — and not a safer, easier one — is the honest answer.

Why that word?

Discuss Share your one word with a partner — do your housing futures look similar or completely different, and why?

Society01