Owning a Piece of America

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, News

4.1 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2026

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

Ever since the Homestead Act of 1862, the U.S. government has worked to help everyday Americans own a piece of their nation. One important innovation was the 30-year fixed rate mortgage, a uniquely American loan that helped supercharge homeownership in the U.S. after World War II. But not every effort by the government to increase homeownership has paid off. Now as younger homebuyers face an affordability crisis, can the U.S. government keep that American dream alive This episode is part of The Wall Street Journal’s USA250: The Story of the World’s Greatest Economy, a collection of articles, videos and podcasts aiming to offer a deeper understanding of how America has evolved. Listen to previous installments of our USA250 podcast: Nuclear Power’s Reboot The Struggle To Keep America’s Workers SafeAn Economy Built on Speculation America’s Road to a DIY Retirement And check out our special series: Can Anything Kick-Start the U.S. Housing Market? With Homeownership Out of Reach, Some Are Choosing to Rent Forever What’s in the New Bipartisan Housing Bill That Congress Just Passed The Housing Market Slumped This Spring. Where Does It Go From Here? The Fight for Affordable Housing Mamdani Won on Housing. Will Democrats Follow His Lead?

Transcript

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0:00.0	My parents own a home.
0:05.0	I'm a homeowner.
0:07.0	My sisters are homeowners.
0:09.0	Land ownership was just something that we understood
0:13.0	was part of the American dream for us.
0:16.0	For over 100 years, the U.S. government has helped everyday people pursue homeownership.
0:22.5	It is this awesome challenge.
0:25.5	But now this core part of the American dream is starting to feel more like a fantasy.
0:30.3	And many people wonder if their own kids will have the same shot.
0:34.1	When I close my eyes, I want to know that he has his own home.
0:39.2	As an affordability crisis plagues the housing market, can the federal government once again put homeownership within reach?
0:46.8	It's Sunday, June 28th.
0:49.1	I'm Imani-Mauese for the Wall Street Journal.
0:51.7	This is USA 250, a podcast series connecting America's economic present to its past.
0:58.3	This is the fifth and final episode, owning a peace of America.
1:05.4	Now know we that there is therefore granted by the United States unto the said Peter Clark the track of land above
1:15.4	describe. That's Bernice Bennett. She's reading a deed from 1896 signed by President Grover Cleveland,
1:24.2	bestowing 159.3 acres of land in Louisiana to her great-great-grandfather,
1:31.0	Peter Clark, who just years before was enslaved. I had chills when I opened it and I saw his name,
1:39.3	his age, and understood that, wait a minute, he went through this process and he acquired that land.
1:48.7	It just told me that this man born and slave was definitely determined to own land.
1:57.6	Peter acquired the land at the ripe age of 38, through the Homestead Act of 1862, which granted
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