When I used to live in D.C., and they were trying to build a new very large apartment building

that would have lowered housing prices for people in D.C.

And so many people who had owned condos came out and protested for days and days to try to stop

this new housing development.

Hey, guys, it's Rachel Jan Faza here at The Bullwork, welcoming you to another episode of the Focus Group podcast.

If you ask any young person these days about what's causing their economic anxiety, you're

likely to hear a lot about housing, whether it's the cost of rent or if they're ever going to

be able to afford a home one day.

We're going to listen to some young people talk about the housing market and what they hope to

see done about it. But first, I want to introduce you to my guest today, wrote to me, Adioia,

a contributing New York Times opinion writer and author of American Pursuit, which is a

newsletter about politics and policy. Rottimi, thanks for joining me today. Thanks for having me.

I'm looking forward to our conversation. Me too. So you recently wrote an essay for the New York

Times a few weeks ago that was headlined, Democrats need a new promise,

a house by 30. Can you walk us through the basics of your piece and for those who haven't had a

chance to read it yet, what you propose? You know, at the end of the day, I think a lot of people

agree on this and we know this is happening. We have a crisis in America with young people.

So many young people feel left out of the American dream. And what I hope to articulate in this

essay is that the Democrats and even outside of the Democrats, really the federal government,

Democrats and Republican, need a housing plan focused on young people. And the two biggest obstacles

to housing for young people are the lack of supply being built in this country, aka, plainly put,

we're not building enough housing. And also the huge down payment cost that comes with buying a

...