You Will NEVER Own a Home... | US Housing Crisis

The housing crisis is crushing the American dream. Trump has put forward some controversial solutions, but what can we do to fix this train wreck? Welcome to America Uncovered. I'm Chris Chapel. Before we begin, be sure to leave a comment below with the American flag emoji to show YouTube's algorithm that we've got engagement. And while you're down there, make sure you're still subscribed. So, as you're probably aware, affordability has been one of America's top concerns since, well, since as long as I've been alive, but economic anxiety rocketed Trump to success in 2024 and gave Democrats the edge in last week's elections. In the immortal words of Democratic strategist and LSU superfan James Carville, >> "It's the economy, stupid." >> And chief among these economic concerns is the cost of housing. To put it bluntly, the situation is pretty bad, particularly for young families who need housing the most. According to the Apollo Academy, the average age of a home buyer today is 56. Compare that to 1981 when the average age was only 31. And baby boomers hold the top spot in terms of home buyers, despite most being well into their retirement years. As a matter of fact, for 2025, boomers accounts for 42% of all home buyers compared to millennials who account for less than a third. Zoomers are even worse off and could be stuck waiting until their 40s until they can buy a home. So, what can actually be done to address the housing crisis? Well, one idea that's been getting a lot of play is Trump's proposal to create a 50-year home mortgage. Somewhere Dave Ramsey is crying. On Truth Social, the president posted this image comparing the proposal to FDR's introduction of the 30-year mortgage. This would technically allow more people to jump on the property ladder since the initial costs would be lower. But let's just think about this for a second. If you take out a home loan at 30, you'll be done paying it off when you're 80 in a country where the average life expectancy is only 78. Okay, so that's more like a lifetime rental. I suppose you could transfer your mortgage to your next of kin. In that case, it's less of a rental and more like a multi-generational loan parents take out that children need to continue paying on. Plus, the lifetime costs of owning a home would be way, way higher. I'm talking an extra $400,000. So, this plan has some serious drawbacks. Even among Trump's supporters, the fallout from the plan has been harsh. It's a bad look. But who even gave Trump this weird idea in the first place? Well, it seems to have originated with the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Py. And he's catching hell for it. According to Politico, the White House is furious with PY with insiders telling reporters Bill Py doesn't know the first thing about how the mortgage markets operate. and that after publicly humiliating the president with his moronic 50-year mortgage plan, it's safe to assume that his days are numbered. Ah, better luck next time, Bill. But, okay, the 50-year loan thing is a non-starter. Instead, the administration needs to focus on the systemic causes of the housing crisis. Simply put, there's too much demand and too little supply, hence the increasing costs. Now, you could try decreasing demand, thus bringing it more in line with the supply side, but that means having more people just give up on buying homes altogether. Whether that means renting or living with their parents or just being homeless. And I got to say, that's a pretty good plan if you want a communist revolution. At that point, you'd be better off suggesting a modest proposal to deal with all the boomers eating up America's housing supply. All my Jonathan Swift heads out there will know what I'm talking about. But maybe there's another way. As one senior economist puts it, as a country, the mortgage term is not what we should be worried about. We should be focused on building more supply. Okay, so the solution is to just build more houses. But as any Victoria 2 player will tell you, capitalist countries aren't really in the habit of plopping down government commie blocks. The last time the government built anything on this scale was in the period right after World War II when the Army Corps of Engineers helped build America's vast suburban sprawl for returning GIS. By the 1960s, these sorts of projects pretty much ceased to exist. Nowadays, the government relies on more indirect methods to spur on new construction via the private sector. One such method is to open up federal land for private development. Back in March, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Housing and Urban Development created a joint task force to identify federal land suitable for development and to hand it over to local authorities at a reduced cost. These agencies also plan to cut red tape to make it easier to build. Think environmental regulation, zoning laws, and the maze of paperwork needed to classify and finance new projects. Speaking of financing, the big beautiful bill, which passed earlier this year, doubled the amount of lowincome housing tax credits given to Fanny May and Freddy Mack to the tune of $4 billion a year. Rather than subsidizing home buyers, that money will go straight into building new homes and add real supply to the market. And finally, you have energy. Cheap energy is kind of like Chili Crisp. It can make pretty much anything taste better. eggs, pizza, ice cream. Likewise, cheaper energy doesn't just mean cheaper gas. It means cheaper cement, steel, and transport, which also means cheaper homes. That's one big reason why the government has made a massive push in the energy sector from offshore oil to coal to a multibillion dollar deal with Japan to rebuild America's nuclear sector. With all these factors, the administration hopes it can push that supply curve and make home ownership more affordable again. Otherwise, Americans may have to consider some more Swiftian proposals. But what do you think? Leave a comment below and be sure to head over to americanover.tv. That's where you'll always get updates on our recent episodes, access to exclusive deep dives, and a chance to talk with me and the team. That's america.tv. Just click this button. Once again, I'm Chris Chapel. Thank you for watching America Uncovered.