HOUSING

AND
THE HUMAN
NEEDS

People and Their Housing

Housing as the word is

used in this text, means any

dwelling that provides shelter.
Housing is your Near
Environment, a small and
distinct part of the total
environment in which you live

People and Their Housing

Your total environment includes

all your interactions with people

and buildings as well as different
geographical areas outside your
dwelling place, neighborhood,
and local community.
Housing affects your actions,
and in turn, your actions affect

Housing Choices
For example, if you live in a

small apartment, you will not

be able to host large parties.
You will not have enough
room, and your neighbors
might complain about the
noise.
However, if you want to host
large parties, you might
choose to live in a large house
that is set apart from other
houses.

Meeting Needs Through Housing

Needs are the basic
requirements that people
must have filled in order to
live.
All people have physical,
psychological, and other
needs.

Meeting Needs Through Housing

They share the need for shelter

in which to eat, sleep, and carry

on daily living activities.
Psychologist Abraham Maslow
prioritized human needs into a
pyramid, as each type of need is
met, you progress up the
pyramid to the next level.

Maslows Theory of Human Needs

Physical Needs
Physical Needs the most basic

human needs.
They have priority over other needs
because they are essential for survival.
Physical needs include shelter, food,
water, and rest.
They are sometimes called basic
needs or primary needs.

Shelter
The need for shelter and protection from

the weather has always been met by a

dwelling of some type.
Archeologists are social scientists who study
ancient cultures by unearthing dwelling
places of past civilizations.
Archeological findings reveal how ancient
structures were made and used, and how
they met the need for shelter a basic
universal need.

Earliest Dwellings: Pueblo

The earliest dwellings

were in natural settings,

such as caves and
overhanging cliffs.
The Pueblo Native
Americans used adobe,
which is a building
material made of sundried earth and straw.
They also used rafters
made from native
materials.

Earliest Dwellings:
Apache
Apache Native

Americans built
houses from tree
branches.
Their houses offered
protection from the
scorching sun, while
cooling breezes
circulate through the
branches.

Earliest Dwellings:
Nomads
Some tribes throughout the

world called nomads

periodically move their
residences depending on
weather, available
farmland, and other factors.
A yurt is a portable hut
made of several layers of
felt covered with canvas.
These huts are use din
summer as the people
move to more fertile areas.

Food and Water

In the past, people located their housing near

sources of food and water.

Today, areas within dwellings are set aside
storing, preparing, and eating food.
However, people still like to prepare food and
eat outside.

Psychological Needs
Once the basic physical

needs are met, people

strive to meet the
psychological needs,
which are higher on
Maslows pyramid of
human needs.
Psychological needs are
needs related to the mind
and feelings that must be
met in order to live a
satisfying life.

Security
Housing provides

security from the

outside world.
It offers protection
from physical
danger and the
unknown.

Security
It helps you feel

safe and protected.

Living in a dwelling
that is well built and
located in an area
from from crime
can help you feel
secure.

Love and Acceptance

Housing affects your

feelings of being loved

and accepted.
If you have your own
bedroom or private place,
you know that others care
about you.
They have accepted you
as a person who has

Esteem
You need to feel

esteem, or the
respect, admiration,
and high regard of
others.
Your housing tells
other people
something about you

Esteem
You also need self-

esteem, awareness
and appreciation of
your own worth.
Living in a pleasant,
satisfying home can
help you gain selfesteem.

Self-Actualization
When you meet the need for

self-actualization, you have

developed to your full potential
as a person.
You have become the best you
can be, and you are doing what
you do best.

Self-Actualization
For self-actualizing people,

housing is more than a place to

live.
It is the place where each person
can progress towards becoming
what he or she is capable of
being.

Other Needs Met Through Housing

Recognizing the levels of

human needs as described

by Maslow can help you
understand how important
needs are in relation to
housing.
Beauty, self-expression, and
creativity are also important
needs.
They can be achieved
through your housing
decisions.

Beauty
Beauty is the quality or

qualities that give

pleasure to the senses.
What is beautiful to you
may not be beautiful to
someone else.
An appreciation of
beauty develops over
time as exposure to it
increases.

Self-Expression

Showing your true personality and taste is called

self-expression, evident when you choose colors to

decorate your house.
Those colors are often a clue to your personality.
For example, if you have an outgoing, vibrant
personality, you might show it by using bright, bold
colors inside your house.

Creativity
Creativity is the ability

to create imaginatively.
It can be described as
combining two or more
things or ideas into a
new whole that as
beauty or value.
Your housing provides
opportunities for you to
express your creativity.

Factors Affecting Housing Choices

There are many

factors that influence

choices in housing.
These include person
priorities, family
relationships, space
needs, costs, roles,
and lifestyle.

Personal Priorities
Personal priorities are strong

beliefs or ideas about what is

important.
When you choose something
freely and take action on that
choice, you are acting on a
personal priority.

Personal Priorities
All personal priorities you hold,

such as family, friendship, money,

status, religion, and independence,
form your personal-priority system.
Whenever you decide between
two or more choices, you use your
personal-priority system.

How Needs and Personal Priorities

Relate
Your needs and personal

priorities are closely related.

For example, you need a place to

sleep.
A cot can satisfy this need.
However, the cot may not meet
your priority for comfort.
If you have a choice, your
personal priority for comfort may
cause you to choose a bed with a
mattress instead of the cot.

Space
People have spatial needs.
While too much space can make people feel

lonely, they need a certain amount of space

around them to avoid feeling crowded.
They way space is used also influences the
amount that is needed.
In places where space cannot be added or
removed, the right furnishings can make the
space seem larger or smaller.

Privacy
People need privacy to

maintain good mental

health.
Sometimes they need to
be completely alone,
where others cannot see
or hear what they are
doing.
A chair that is set apart
from other furnishings in
a room can create
privacy.

Family Relationships
Decisions in families that value

relationships are made to benefit all

family members, not just some.
A family is two or more people living
together who are related by birth,
marriage, or adoption.
When concern for family
relationships is an important personal
priority, several areas of the house

Costs
For most people, the cost

of housing is an important
factor in making housing
decisions.
Whether people rent or
buy housing, it costs
money.
When money is very
limited, people choose
dwellings that provide just
enough space for their
needs.

Roles
Roles are patterns of behavior that

people display in their homes, the

workplace, and their communities.
Examples are: wife, mother, sister,
co-worker, teacher, hospital
volunteer, etc.
The roles people have can affect the
type of housing they choose and the
way the housing is used.

Roles
To fulfill the role of student, a home

needs a quiet area for studying.

The role of wage earner can also
impact housing choices.
A lawyer may work from home,
needing an office for working and a
seating area for greeting clients.

Housing Needs Vary

On almost a daily basis, you can be sure of

change.
Life situations and circumstances cause
change and affect they way you live.
In group housing, people generally are not
related.
Retirement complexes and dormitories, are

some common examples.

The occupants live in separate units within

the group dwelling.

People in residential dwellings, on the other

Households
The most common

residential dwelling is a
household.
A household is a group of
people sharing the same
dwelling
The size of a household
can vary, but most
households contain
families.
There are five basic

Nuclear Family
This family includes

couples and their

children.
The children are
either born into the
family or adopted.
None of the children
are from a previous
marriage.

Single-parent Family
These families

consist of a child (or

children) and only
one parent, often
because a parent has
died or left home.
Other single-parent
families consist of a
never-married adult
with one or more
children.

Stepfamily
This family consists

of parents, one or
both of whom have
been married
before.
The family also
includes one or
more children from a
previous marriage.

Childless Family
These families consist of a

husband and wife who have

not had children.
For some couples this is a
temporary condition, delaying
the arrival of children until
their finances improve.
For others, they may be
unable to have children or
chooses to remain childless,
for whatever reason.

Extended Family
There a two basic types of extended

families, which are formed by

adding one or more relatives to a
household already identified.
One type consists of several

generations of a family, such as

children, parents, and grandparents.
The second type of extended family
consists of members from the same
generation, such as brothers,
sisters, and cousins.

Single Person Household

The smallest household is a

single-person household,
which consists of one
person living alone in the
dwelling.
That person may be
someone who has never
married or whose marriage
has ended because of the
loss of a spouse through
death, desertion, or
divorce.

Life Cycles
Life cycles are another way to view your

housing needs.
A life cycle is a series of stages through which
an individual or family passes during its
lifetime.
In each stage, you have new opportunities
and face new challenges.

Individual Life Cycle

Each person follows a pattern of development

called an individual life cycle

It is divided according to age groups into the
following four stages:
Infancy
Childhood
Youth
Adulthood

Each stage can be divided into sub stages.

Family Life Cycle

Just as you have a

place in an individual
life cycle, your family
has its place in the
family life cycle.
A family life cycle has
six stages.
In addition, one or
more sub stages may
exist within each
stage.

Beginning Stage
The beginning stage

is the early period of

the marriage when
the couple is without
children.
The husband and
wife make
adjustments to
married life and to
each other.

Childbearing Stage
The childbearing stage is the time when the

family is growing.
It includes the childbearing periods and the
years of caring for preschoolers.

Parenting Stage
The parenting stage

occurs when the

children are in school.
This stage includes
the years of caring
for school-age
children and
teenagers.

Launching Stage
The launching stage is the time when the

children become adults and leave their

parents house.
They may leave to go to college, take a job, or
get married.

Midyears Stage
The midyears stage is the time between when

the children leave home and the parents

retire.
When all the children have left home, the
couple is again alone.

Aging Stage
The aging stage

begins with
retirement.
Usually, at some
point in this stage,
one spouse lives
alone after the death
of the other.
As people live longer,
the length of this
stage increases.

Life cycles and Housing

Needs
As you move from one stage or sub stage of a

life cycle to another, your housing needs

change.
Therefore, you should consider what stage or
sub stage of the life cycles you are in as you
plan your housing.
If you think about both your present and
future needs, your housing can help you live
the kind of life you desire.

Housing and The Quality

of Life
Quality of life is the

degree of satisfaction
obtained from life.
Housing is considered
good when it
provides people with
satisfying
surroundings that can
improve their quality
of life.

Personal Quality of Life

Quality of life is important to

you as an individual.
Your idea of an improved
quality of life may not appeal
to someone else.
Your housing environment
helps you meet your needs and
personal priorities.
It also adds satisfaction to your
life and, therefore, improves
the quality of your life.

Quality of Life for Society

The future of a society depends on

individuals and groups who work to

make life better for everyone.
Some of the work is social in nature.
People must also work together and use
their resources of time, money, and
energy to maintain and support
beautiful surroundings.
Examples of such surroundings are well-

kept buildings and natural landscapes.

Human Ecology
Human ecology the study of people

and their environment, is the focus of

considerable research.
People are concerned about the
problems caused by pollutants
entering streams, lakes, and
underground water supplies.
Instead of wishing for the good old
days to return, people must move

The End!