Assignment Task
Task:
You are a Policy Officer working in a non-government organisation in a location of your choice. Your manager has asked you to present them with a Public Health Social Analysis on the challenges surrounding a critical public health issue in your community – housing instability. You will provide your manager with an overview of the location and priority population that is being affected by this public health issue, the social determinants that are linked to it, its social impact, how it is socially constructed and current responses to the public health issue.
In writing your social analysis, you need to address the following points: Provide an overview of the public health issue of housing instability in your our chosen locality and describe your priority population.
- What is housing instability and why is it a critical public health issue?
- What aspect of housing instability are you focusing on? (e.g., homelessness, rental stress, overcrowding, lack of safety, transience)
- What is the (social) distribution of housing instability in your chosen locality?
- Who is your population group experiencing housing instability in your locality?
- What social/structural determinants are linked to housing instability experienced by your population group? (i.e., the causes of the causes) Are there broader social consequences/ impacts of housing instability on the population group in your location?
- How is housing instability socially constructed for your priority population (e.g., stereotyping of your population group in the media, issues of stigma and discrimination, victim blaming)?
- What are the current responses to housing instability by the community, government and/or other agencies, in your location (e.g., community initiatives, or government programs, and policy approaches)?
Provide at least 2 concrete examples and critically reflect on their usefulness in addressing housing instability in your population. Please note that this task is to be written in a report style and must use academic and peer reviewed literature, and high-quality grey literature (e.g. government reports, research reports), to provide an in-depth and critical social analysis of housing insecurity. Please also note that this task underpins Assessment 3, where your chosen area of focus will be further extended.