The rent is too high
People on lower incomes can’t afford safe and convenient housing, and find their budgets strained as they juggle all the other costs of living. The minimum wage often does not cover the cost of housing. What would it cost the rest of us to fix the complex systems that cause poverty? The Meta-Problem Method can help bring clarity.
Complex problems are often vague and have many possible solutions. The Meta-Problem Method may lead you far away from the dilemma that started your quest. That’s because the method forces you to clarify what you really want and what you are willing to give up. It enables you to compare objectively the possible pathways and their trade offs. It prevents you locking into solutions mode too early and then doubling down on solving a low-yield problem that does not serve your goals as well as the alternatives. At the end of this process, you will have a better understanding of your priorities and how to achieve them.
Steps in the Meta-Problem Method
Dilemma
The high-level issue you are trying to address
Make housing affordable for all.
Goal
The changes you want to make to address the dilemma. There are usually many options.
Supporting Goals
- People earn enough to pay for housing.
- Maximize the number of people who live in stable housing.
Other goals could include minimizing the costs of affordable housing programs, minimizing commutes, and reducing the need for cars.
Problem Space
The set of problems you could chose to solve to advance your goals, plus the constraints that hold you back.
Example problems
- How can we help people find enough work to pay for housing? Maybe the problem to solve is “Which job programs or policies will increase a worker’s earnings?”
- How can we increase the number of people with stable housing? Maybe the problem to solve is “Which affordable housing programs are needed to support those experiencing poverty?”
There are many other potential problems to solve related to the cost of housing. Each goal has many possible problems we could link to it. Are there other problems linked to these first two goals? Which options come to mind for the other goals?
High-Yield Problems
Sometimes solving one problem helps make progress towards several goals. In this step, we identify these “two-for-the-price-of-one” problems.
Which options will advance more than one goal?
- Increasing earnings would make housing more affordable, giving more people stable housing, and minimize the need for affordable housing programs. However, many jobs do not support market rate housing.
- Affordable housing programs provide more stable housing for those in need and are often designed to be close to jobs and public transit options. However, there is an initial investment needed to build affordable housing, and these projects often encounter local resistance.
There are many potential solutions that will have varying effects on the set of goals. Which alternatives improve the most important goals? How might the unknown change the right path forward? What other possible solutions are there to address the dilemma?
Problem Selection
Which of the many possible options in the high-yield problem step is the best set to address the dilemma?
- Which solutions make the most sense to reduce poverty?
- Which solutions will best address the dilemma?
- Which solutions will deliver the best outcome for the least amount of time, effort and money?
Implement, Learn and Adapt
Check continuously that you are still solving the best problem, as new information emerges.
Observe and learn as you go. As new information reveals itself, check continuously that you’re still solving the right problem.