Homelessness - Designing Dignity

In this episode of The Extra Seat, we explore how design thinking and systems thinking can be applied to one of society’s most complex and urgent issues: homelessness. Homelessness is not only about housing—it intersects with healthcare, employment, mental health, and social policy, making it a truly “wicked” problem. We’ll discuss how design thinking helps uncover the lived experiences of people facing homelessness, reframing the challenge around empathy and human needs, while systems thinking maps the larger forces, feedback loops, and structures that sustain it. Examples include Housing First models that prioritise stability before services, co-design initiatives where people with lived experience shape solutions, and city-level experiments in integrating housing, health, and social care. This episode highlights why solving homelessness requires both innovative design approaches and holistic system-wide change.