Not being able to afford a house doesn't imply that you're in risk of being homeless. OP seems to be using home owning as the measure for having hope in life, which is ridiculous. Now when I lived in Beijing, rent was expensive (for any place a westerner would see as livable), the apartments were lousy, finding an apartment was a hassle, landlords were annoying, and I ended up moving every year. Sure, all the foreigners kvetched about finding an apartment. Every one of us had some sort of major disruption due to something out of our control (that's pretty much going to happen in China). None of us lost hope in life because of it.
