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The Benny Show
How To Fix The Biggest Crisis In America: Housing | Saving The American Dream for Young People, with HUD Secretary Scott Turner
01:03:12
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- [00:02]
Benny Johnson
What's up? Ladies and gentlemen, we have a blazing show for you this morning, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. Is the American Dream dead? Well, it certainly is. If it continues on this trajectory, we're going to do everything we possibly can to save it, to muscle out, I mean, honestly, spend the rest of our lives, all of our energy. I would give my life for my children, actually. I would give my life, the future of my children. Every good man, every honorable man, many noble men gave their lives so that I could be living here fighting this fight. I will ensure that there is a ladder that stretches down to my children in their generation and that the door remains open for them. That's what a moral generation will do. And we're going to talk about that critically on this program. A special on housing in America, joined by Mr. Housing in America, the HUD Secretary Scott Turner will be on our program. Housing and Urban Development obviously, is one of those funny little organizations that could be incredibly woke or could be incredibly unlocking of American promise and dreams here in this country. And we hear that he might have some news for us. We want to skip very speedily along to the secretary who will be joining us in just a moment. My name is Benny Johnson and this is the Benny Show. No matter where you are watching our program from, and we are going to be traveling later in the day. We have some big announcements today. We're very excited about it. We are also going to be traveling this weekend doing a fundraiser with the Trump family for St. Jude's right, children with cancer. We'll be using our VPN when we travel. Listen, I'll be in airports all weekend. I'll be in airports later today right after the show. These airports, these hotels, these are prime real estate for people to steal all of your data and information. Because you're traveling, you're logged on to other strange WiFi, Wi Fi networks. And without a VPN, man, they can just hack right into your phone. They can hit you right where it hurts. This kind of theft, the theft of your tech and your data and browsing history is really bad. Take your credit cards, they can take your home address. It's, it's something that you really need to take seriously. VPNs is the number one way to ensure that every single time that you connect to an unencrypted network, well, that your data is protected. Express VPN is how you make sure that no hacker and no supercomputer will ever be able to get your data. Express VPNs encryption is the best in the world. Fire up the app and one click of a button and you are protected. Speaking of protected, I When you have little kids, you are not protected from the various little bugs and viruses throughout the universe. And so a little bit of a cough here. We'll be fine. Phones, laptops, tablets and more will help you stay secure on the go. Optional dedicated IP service engineered with innovative zero knowledge design, ExpressVPN can make sure that you are totally and completely untraceable. Ladies and gentlemen, I just cannot encourage you enough. We've had ExpressVPN on our devices for a long time. Get it today. Secure your online data by visiting expressvpn.com Benny that's E X P-R-E-S-S VPN.com Benny Find out how you can get up to four extra months. Expressvpn.com Benny US housing market is starved for affordability. Boomers edge Millennials and Gen Z out of home ownership in record numbers. That's not a good headline. Jeez. Home prices have elevated mortgage rates and made it increasingly difficult for Gen Z and Millennials to buy home. The median age of the first time US home buyer has significantly jumped during the past decade because incomes have not kept pace with housing costs. Wow. I wonder what could have possibly happened. Criminal aliens. Criminal aliens. Criminal aliens. There are 50 million people in this country that probably don't deserve to be here because they are criminal because they didn't come here legally. I don't know if they're bad people, some of them are. But I know this that they are absolutely sucking up all of the housing supply because the laws of supply and demand proves this. You can't build a society and then flop on. You can't build a society a beautiful and functional society like we had when when I was born in the 80s. You could argue Peak Americana in the 80s and all. All data actually proves that. And then like land 150 million legal and illegal aliens onto the country and just expect everything to just be good. It's not good. This is a sign of a dying culture, not a booming culture. It's become increasingly difficult in recent years for young home buyers to break into the housing market. Between the comparatively high mortgage rates and skyrocketing home prices, the weight of buying a home feels insurmountable for Gen Z. It shows in the data. In 2025 the share of first time home buyers plummeted to a record low of 21%. Typical age of a first time home buyer climbed to an all time high of 40 years old. Ugh. And why is that critical? It's something that we've been talking about time and time again. It underscores why there is a population collapse and a civilizational collapse and a cultural collapse in our nation. Because if you are buying a home at 40, you are not starting a family early in your life. You're doing it later in life, if you do it at all. You don't want to take your new bride home to the frat house. You, as a woman, don't want to take your new child home to the group house or to a cold, heartless, metal, metallic and glass apartment building. You don't want that life. It's in your bones, man. And so this explains everything. This is the key to unlocking the American future or to closing it. It'll go maga or mandami because of data like this, man. This is crazy. So, yeah, they are. It's not looking good. It's the betrayal, quite frankly, generationally. And I'm sorry, I know that boomers don't like to hear this, and I'm not here to engage in, you know, generational libel or anything like that, but the reality is that this is the legacy that has been left for our young people. They can't afford homes. And the data does show that things have gotten cripplingly bad for young people. The affordability of housing data. Just one chart will blow the doors off of, like, anybody who screams that we had high interest rates too in the 1980s. No, you didn't. Like, not like this. Not like this. There's the average price of a home versus the median household income. You can see here that the price of the home versus the household income was approximately a fourth of your income. So that's easy to pay. I mean, that's. Obviously, you could pay that off on a 30 year mortgage. That becomes very simple, right? If you're taking home, you know, after taxes, like the, like a significant value of your house every single year, it's easy to put away for that. Look at this now. $74,000 median household income versus nearly $500,000. Well, that's like a tenth. So there it is. That's. That blows. That blows the doors off the whole, like, you know, we had a bad, too. Not like this. It's. It's historically bad. All right? Is all I'm saying. People hit me up at the mentions all the time, talking about, like, how, you know, we had it to. We had it tough, too. We had it tough, too.
- [08:03]
Scott Turner
Stop.
- [08:05]
Benny Johnson
Like, it's actually Unbiblical. To, like, sit there and be so focused on something bad that happened to you. Like, that was the time. Like, this is a saying. Could you imagine? Like, I have these little kids and they. They. They scratch their knee and they're a little kid, you know, my 2 year old, he's my. My boy. His name's Theodore. And he scrapes his knee. This kid is, like, prone to accidents. He's like, oh, he's all boy, man. He's like. Just goes headlong into everything. He Leroy Jenkins it, and he scrapes his knee and he's crying on the sidewalk with a scraped knee, as he often does. And I stand over him and I look down on him and go, shut up. I had a scraped knee once. What kind of a father would I be? I'd be that it's indefensible to parent like that. That'd be cruel. So young people are, in fact, hurting. And just because something bad happened to you or you struggled in life doesn't mean that their struggles aren't real and oftentimes aren't created, frankly, by some systems that were there that are the benefit to you. If I'm being perfectly honest, there is a gerontocracy in this country, and there are a lot of systems that are designed in order to serve older Americans at the expense of young Americans. And I'm sorry if that's a bitter medicine to swallow, but it's true. And we can't be this selfish. I'd give up anything for my kids, and that's every generation in America. And it's time, frankly, for the boomers to also, like, make that shift. Boomers own 2.8 houses per couple. On average, three houses per couple. Well, that's a big problem in the housing supply as well. Where's the turnover to your kids? Where's the turnover to your families? Why can't we normalize that? It is a good and moral generation that preserves the nation for its offspring. This comes straight from the Psalms. And in order to do that, you need to make sure they have a life, and they can't start a life if they don't have a home. And sitting there lecturing young kids about frappes or the price of an iPhone. Okay, all right. I've seen the sign. As the seasons shift into colder weather, blood pressure tends to rise due to vasoconstriction. That would be the narrow of the blood vessels. And some people start to have increased salt cravings and less physical activity. This is super common where I come from in the Midwest when it's kind of gray in winter for like half the year. And this is why it's more important than ever to make sure that your blood pressure is under check. Blood pressure is a serious problem in America. Nearly one in two adults have high blood pressure, meaning there's a 50, 50 chance that you could be affected. Get control of your blood pressure now. It's critical for your health and longevity. This is why I use 120 Life. 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This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or condition. As are your stereo Systems. In the 80s, all right, I lived with the dad. My dad had a massive stereo system. Don't lecture me about an iPhone. I know how much those stereo system cost you from Korea. Please. Every generation has their luxuries, their upsides and downsides. But there are some things that remain, which is the command of God to go out and be fruitful and multiply. And you have to make sure that you're doing that. Otherwise you're committing civilizational suicide. And so it's going to be something that we're going to be working on a lot on this program. We're going to have a lot of like, tough conversations with young and old people because young people also got to get it together. If you want to buy a house, you are going to have to save money and you are going to have to like, buckle up because it's a huge process and it requires you to grow up. And it is important to have both sides of the conversation. I really want to normalize passing on a home to your. To your children. You're older, not a college education. No. There's no reason to go $200,000 in debt for your kid's college, Take the money that you've been saving and say, hey, kid, when you get married, you get help with your down payment on your house. Or depending on how much money you've saved, I'll just buy you a house. I assure you that will be the most blessed thing you will ever do for your child. But it's. It's obviously happening right now. Some of it is due to hoarding of homes. A lot of it is due to criminal immigration. A lot of it is due to federal spending making the dollar practically worthless. And of course, when you have a fixed asset like a piece of land, God's not making any more land. Then that land is going to become more valuable in an inflationary spiral. So there it is, ladies and gentlemen, the truth about crippling lack of affordability for homes. JD Vance popping off on this earlier this week, about 24 hours ago, saying, listen, you know, you want to fix the home affordability crisis, let's do mass deportations. That's a good start.
- [13:56]
JD Vance
I know that there are a lot of people out there, Sean, who are saying things are expensive, and we have to remember they're expensive because we inherited this terrible inflation crisis from the Biden administration. But you've already seen signs that things are getting better. The price of eggs has gone way down. The price of energy has gone way down. The price of gasoline has gone way down. And as we know, when the price of energy goes down, that starts to filter out into the entire economy.
- [14:24]
Benny Johnson
But that.
- [14:24]
JD Vance
That also takes a little bit of time. There's another component of this, Sean, which to me is maybe the most important, because I care so much about our young people being able to afford a good life. A lot of young people are saying housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought, by right, go to American citizens. And at the same time, we. We weren't building enough new houses to begin with, even for the population that we had. So what we're doing is trying to make it easier to build houses, trying to make it easier to build factories and things like that so that people have good jobs. We're also getting all of those illegal aliens out of our country. And you're already Seeing it start to pay some dividends.
- [15:08]
Benny Johnson
We want to make sure, ladies and gentlemen, that we are reversing this trend. It's going to take a generational effort, but it is one of the last things that I worked on with Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk viewed this as the crowning achievement or destruction of the MAGA movement. If we can solve this problem. Homeownership for young people, affordability impacts. Young people are once again moving back home. A very troubling trend here. Look at this. Young adults 18 to 34 living with parents. Oh, it's terrible in Florida. Goodness gracious, Klein, we gotta fix that. Florida and California not affordable. There's not affordable homes here, frankly. You can lay this map over. Scroll down the map, please. You could lay this map over the actual map of affordability for homes. And it's like a one to one. There you go. It's a one to one. It's crazy. So where homes are unaffordable, young people are living with their parents. This is a major, major cultural phenomenon that is not native to our country and threatens the future of our nation. Something that we are going to speak about with the man himself, the Housing and Urban Development cabinet secretary for President Trump. Just one moment, ladies and gentlemen. As you know, we are always fighting for our freedoms. See the freedom to own a home. The freedom to own a home and be mobile in our society and economy. The freedom to live across the street from your, from your parents or grandparents graves or to go strike out into the great wild. A new story. Either way, you'll need the capacity to buy a home. You'll also probably need the capacity to have affordable and stable cell phone service. And that's what we have. Whenever we strike out on this program and travel as we will be doing all weekend, Patriot Mobile will be with us. Ladies and gentlemen, they are not just leading the red economy. They're outpacing the competition in technology. Patriot Mobile is offering their premium access on all three major networks to you nationwide coverage and service. You can count on mobile hotspots, international roaming, unlimited data plan and Internet backup. Take a stand today and go to patriotmobile.com Benny Call 972 Patriot and use code BENNY for a free month of service. Patriotmobile.com Benny Call 902 Patriot to make the switch today. Ladies and gentlemen, it is our honor to have on the program live right now, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner. Welcome back to the program. Mr. Secretary Turner, housing and Urban Development. It is an honor to have you back to talk about this critical and important issue, something that I've been obsessed with because it was the last thing I was working on with Charlie Kirk. Charlie saw it, Mr. Secretary, and I know that you know him as something that is critical and foundational to the continuation of the American dream. If young people can't get into houses, they can't start families, they can't have children, they can't get married, they can't have grandchildren, all the time joys of life get robbed from them, they'll become dark nihilists and vote for communists. And we're seeing that actually happening and it's concerning. And so I hear that you have some news to break on our program that is actually a reversal of a trend that we've been seeing, which is homeownership out of reach for American families. The floor is yours, Mr. Secretary.
- [19:15]
Scott Turner
Well, Benny, thank you so much. It's great to be with you again. And yes, our man Charlie was tremendous when it came to the issues of housing. But yes, today you are announcing here on your show a major milestone for HUD and America. HUD has supported housing affordability and home ownership for over 1 million Americans. And over half a million of those are first time homebuyers. So thank you, Benny, for giving us this platform to make this major announcement for the American people.
- [19:43]
Benny Johnson
This is amazing. This is. Your producer sent us this right before the show. It says HUD supports homeownership for a million Americans. Most importantly, 560,000 first time home buyers. That's critical. Can you explain to me, is this historically high? Is this a tick upward? Is this all in the right direction, Mr. Secretary?
- [20:07]
Scott Turner
Well, you know, since January, these are the numbers. Over 1 million from FHA and Ginnie Mae, our programs here at HUD. And yes, I believe when you look at this, this is an uptick. And here lately, as you alluded to, Benny, the topic has been affordability. In particular housing affordability. And so at HUD we have been about action. And through FHA and Ginnie Mae, we have given over 1 million Americans the opportunity to achieve the American dream. And you know what? FHA is the first time homebuyer program in America. And I want your viewers and all of those that are listening to know that FHA is that program and Jennie Mae is the liquidity behind these mortgages. And so you know what, Benny, we're very excited today. The President is laser focused on housing affordability. So thank you for giving me this opportunity to share some good news.
- [21:01]
Benny Johnson
Mr. Secretary, we want to talk through some of the critical Data that is backstopping our concern about affordability in America. But just one more question on this announcement. What is it that HUD did, what is it that FHA did in order to incentivize this uptick in homeownership? What policies changed from administration to administration?
- [21:23]
Scott Turner
Well, number one, I think when you change leadership, you change vision. During the Biden administration, our fiscal house was not in order. Inflation was at an all time high. Mortgage rates were high. Interest rates were high, were high. Illegal aliens to the tune of 12 plus million illegal aliens flooded our borders here in America. But now under President Trump's leadership, since January here at hud, we have gotten our mission minded focus back. FHA is about action. It is about helping Americans to achieve the American dream. We've been about Mic Drop, hosted by.
- [22:01]
Benny Johnson
Former Navy SEAL Mike Ritland.
- [22:02]
Scott Turner
It's raw.
- [22:03]
Benny Johnson
So you do four platoons and seven years at Team three when you go to the jump team. Scariest job I had in the Navy.
- [22:09]
Scott Turner
Until people started shooting at me.
- [22:10]
Benny Johnson
Yeah, it was a blast though.
- [22:11]
Scott Turner
It's unfiltered.
- [22:12]
Benny Johnson
At what point did you decide, I'm done with the SEAL teams? If you only knew how the Navy works. We don't have an enemy to fight. Like, we'll eat each other.
- [22:20]
Scott Turner
It's tough talk from the top minds in their field.
- [22:22]
Benny Johnson
They're not looking for the best guy. Looking for the right guy.
- [22:25]
Scott Turner
Yeah. Mic Drop, follow and listen on your favorite platform. The regulatory are deregulation in America from a federal standpoint and also state and local standpoint. Getting local control back to the states, back to the cities. Because the regulatory environment, Benny, literally was crippling building and development across our country. So HUD is leading the way as it pertains to taking down burdensome regulations, getting our fiscal house in order, and helping the American people, in particularly young people, Gen Z and millennials, to be encouraged to build families, to have children, to be homeowners. And that's the vision that we have here at hud.
- [23:03]
Benny Johnson
I'm so glad that you said that because that is what I hear on college campuses across the country. Mr. Secretary, these young people come up to me and they used to come up to Charlie and we're talking constantly about how the American dream is being robbed from them. I often ask if you're talking to an audience on a college campus, if you're a young man, do you want to get married? Most of the young men say yes. And then the next question is, do you want to bring your wife home to the frat? House, you know, on your wedding night. And of course, everyone laughs because it's absurd. Every man wants to bring their wife home to their home. That's where they want to go. You talk to young women, same story. You ask them if they want to be mothers, and the vast majority of them want to be moms. And you ask, do you want to bring your child home to a apartment building with a hundred strangers and dogs pooping in the elevator and a single room apartment? And the answer, of course, the women laugh because no, no woman really wants that. They want to bring their child home to a nursery in their home, in their kitchen with a white picket fence. Right. And a tire swing. And that's the American dream. And so they all have that in their bones, but it's wildly out of reach for them. Here's some data on this. This is buying a home. When I was born, I was born in 1986 versus today. This is the destruction of the American dream, Mr. Secretary, because you can see here how exponentially expensive American homeownership has become. And just wanting to ask you, you know, what is your, what is your message to those young people that we talk to every single day about fixing this affordability problem?
- [24:42]
Scott Turner
Well, Benny, you have communicated this in such an eloquent way as it pertains to the problem that we face and the heart attitude of young people today. So thank you for bringing that up. And I'm going to go back and say the root problem of this was during the Biden administration, housing policies were weak, economic policies were weak, immigration policies were weak. And so now, since the Trump administration has taken a leadership reign, we've been watching the film, Benny. We've watched the film over the past four years of what's been happening in America. And the film is not good. And so we're changing the playbook. We're running new plays, a different paradigm. We actually want family formation. We actually want young people to get married, to have children, to own homes. And so thank you for putting up that chart because as you look at it, a median home price of almost $500,000, a little over $450,000, is unsustainable.
- [25:45]
Benny Johnson
Yes, sir.
- [25:45]
Scott Turner
And so what we've done is first, start with the regulatory environment, get the policies and the regulations correct. Take down burdensome regulation and red tape and bureaucracy. Public private partnerships are also a critical part of housing affordability. Taken down environmental regulations that have crippled builders. And also now with opportunity zones, giving other people an opportunity to buy and afford homes throughout our country in both Urban, tribal and rural areas. And so, Benny, I want to add to that too. You know, American people today have been discouraged to get married in particularly young people. And as a believer in the Lord Jesus, I believe that he's called us to get married, raise godly children, have godly homes, get in godly businesses, serve our country, be it pastors, lay ministers, teachers, lawyers, business people, media experts as yourself, but to build a family, build a home. Because as strong as the family is, the community will be. And as strong as a community is, the country will be. And I believe that under President Trump's leadership and here at HUD and across this administration, you have like minded people that are doing exactly what you've alluded to.
- [27:07]
Benny Johnson
I'm so glad that you said that, Mr. Secretary, because that is the ball game. If young men and women can't get married and can't have children, if they can't get into houses and begin that process, and again, nobody wants to bring their wife or their newborn baby home to the frat house or the sorority. You gotta grow up. But if you pull that ladder up generationally, if you close that door, then you're not gonna have more Americans. It's, it's actually immoral. What's happening right now. Here's another chart I wanted to talk with you about. This is the median age of US homebuyers since 1981. You can see when you or I were little babies, the median age of a home buyer was in the 20s. And that's what you'd assume, right? That is peak fertility. That is when young people should be getting married and started in their lives. Now it is 40 years old for the first time, homebuyer. And I, I'm, you know, I'm not angry at you, Mr. Secretary. I'm angry at that statistic. You know, you've been in office for like seven months. But that is a trend line that has been crippling the ability for young people to get started in life. 40 years old, that's past the window of peak fertility for women. That's, that, that's, that's something that is obviously, you know, becomes harder and harder to raise kids, to start families at that age. And then you can see there, actually the highest and most troubling number is the average age of a home buyer, which is 60. What's going on there, Mr. Secretary? How is the average age of a home buyer? You know, young people are like, it's already a gerontocracy, right? It's already a society completely designed to serve the old at the expense of the young. And then this data just all but proves it. Actually, 60 years old is the average age of a home buyer. What is that?
- [28:55]
Scott Turner
Well, it's very concerning for number one, but I'm glad again that, you know, you put up the truth. We're not afraid of the truth. And I think a couple of things are going on here, Benny. Number one, it's the mindset of the Americans and number two, the affordability. Let's talk about the mindset. And we talked about it a little bit before. People have not been encouraged to be married and start families. And because of that, you know, people were buying homes later. People were starting families later if they were starting families. When I was coming up, the average age of buying a home was about 28 years old, and now it's 40. Well, when I was coming up, also in my young days, we were married at 23 years old, 25 years old, starting families. And my hope is that today that the paradigm and the mindset in America will shift as we get our fiscal and economic house in order. People will be encouraged to get married, be encouraged to have children. And Charlie spoke about this so much about the American family and growing together, getting married young and having children and growing up together, struggling together. And that's the mindset we need to get back to. But I believe that it's going to be a parallel track. Get our fiscal house in order, bring affordability down, and then encourage our young Americans say, hey, you know what? You can achieve the American dream and this is how we're going to do it. So thank you for bringing that to the forefront.
- [30:25]
Benny Johnson
How do we. I would love nothing more, if you don't mind client, if you just pop that up one more time. I'd love nothing more, Mr. Secretary, to focus on that red line right there. That, that, that, that would be the marquee achievement, frankly, of the vision that will save the country that Charlie was working on before. He was actually killed for this. He was killed for his beliefs. He was killed for standing for what he believed in. He believed that the American dream was becoming wildly out of touch and that young people would turn to communism if that red line kept going up, if housing became unaffordable. How are we going to bend that backwards in order to make sure that people are buying first time home buyers are buying homes when they can still start families?
- [31:12]
Scott Turner
Great question. And as you were talking, I thought about something that we haven't touched on. America is a country that was found on Judeo Christian principles we have gotten away. One, from the fear of God, two, from the church being what the church is supposed to be, and three, encouraging people that it's okay to be a believer, it's okay to be a Christian in America today. And when you talk about that red line and how we're going to reverse it, I believe the root of that starts with the heart of the people and people as a country, us coming back to the Lord. The Bible says in Psalm 33:12 that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Because even if we bring the economics down and we bring affordability down, which we're doing and which the President is leading and we're a part of, we need for American families to turn their heart back to the Lord. Because when you do that, then people make responsible decisions, then families are formed, then people begin to do things that are beneficial not just for themselves, but for generations to come behind them. And I think that those things working together is how you're going to see that line reverse.
- [32:30]
Benny Johnson
Well, I would love nothing more, man. I would tell you what, if there's any mark of a successful populist and nationalist movement set for America first, it would be the reversal of that trend that our young people are getting started in life, are owning homes, are seizing the American dream, are getting families, are doing what God asked us to do, right? The first command of God to man, to his new creation made in his image is go be fruitful and multiply. It's right there in the first book of the Bible. That's right, but it's not happening. One final graph for you, Mr. Secretary. Look at this man, this is crazy. Right after World War II, 55% of under 30s, of 30 and unders were both married and owned a home. And today that's hovering around 10%. That's one generation. The total and complete collapse of the American dream. Getting married, falling in love, getting married, owning a home, starting a family, there it is, plain as day. And that's why people feel hopeless, especially young people feel hopeless. And I don't know if there's an easy solution. I've always thought that it'd be cool to. I thought that it'd be neat to have potentially first time home buyer credits, maybe tax credit or something like that in order to encourage under 35s to go to enter the housing market. I know that Obama did something like this for first time home buyers. Have you ever considered something like this, Mr. Secretary?
- [33:59]
Scott Turner
Well, Ben, and thank you for bringing us up. There's a lot of Ideas on the table, as you know, right now. And we are open to considering all ideas. And you know, industry experts who we meet with in the building development industry, everyday American people who want to achieve the American dream of home ownership, we're listening to them. And one thing we do here at HUD is we convene people together, we facilitate meetings for people to come in so we can hear stakeholders throughout society, whether they be professional builders, developers, families, so we can understand, you know, what's the pain, what's the struggle? Because that helps us as we deliberate and as we ideate on all the ideas that are on the table. And so yes, to your point, we are considering these, we are talking about these, we're not just meeting about it, but we are planning and coming up with strategies to do what's right for the American people as we get input from the people around our country. Now, one thing I will say from a HUD perspective, we want to make sure that we secure the stability of the housing market not just for now, but for future generations. And also that we are good stewards over taxpayer money and government backed loans. And so those are two priorities here that we have at hud. And so alongside of those running on the same track is considering all ideas that are available and then making a strategic decision to impact our country for years to come.
- [35:28]
Benny Johnson
Yeah, it does like seem so cruel to subsidize student loans at such an obscene rate. You know, if you, if you have a $50,000 a year job, no bank's ever going to give you a million dollar loan. They're going to say that's insane. And if you have a $50,000 a year job, I mean, you're going to be lucky to get a car loan, quite frankly, from a bank. But the federal government says that you can, you can go $250,000 in debt as a student for a degree that might be worth absolutely nothing. There's no collateral against the degree, you have no money to your name, and then saddle these kids with that high interest debt forever. It seems totally perverse and evil. And I would just love to see a cultural shift more toward home buying instead of these generally worthless college educations that these kids are getting now. $1.7 trillion in debt for student loans. I would much rather see that be going towards incentivizing actual, the actual real economy in life for young Americans in the form of perhaps homebuyer credits. I'd love to see that cultural shift.
- [36:41]
Scott Turner
Yeah, you know, you made a great point too. And I think that we have. We failed young people over the last 10 or 15 years.
- [36:49]
Benny Johnson
Yes.
- [36:49]
Scott Turner
Because of this hey, you have to go to college mindset. You have to go to college so you can get a job mindset. And then you say you're coming out of college with $200,000 worth of debt. You get a 40 or $50,000 a year job, and it's hard for you to even think about the American dream. But to me, we have to change the kitchen conversation. We have to change the paradigm and the mindset, say, hey, you know, what are you good at? What are you skilled at? And expose this generation coming up. You know, we have some people in our foundation back at home. These kids are good with their hands, but they've always been told, I have to go to college. Well, you know what? If you're good with your hands and you're creative and you can fix things, you can build things, we need more trades. We need more skilled labor. Welders, plumbers, builders in our country that have tremendous salaries and honorable jobs that really would be on a path to home ownership quicker than people spending four years in college coming out with all kind of debt and. And then with menial salaries. Not to bemoan the fact that going to college, but it's not for everyone. And to your point, we need a cultural shift so people can say, what am I good at? Am I good at academics? Am I good at building? Am I good at teaching? Am I good at sport, whatever it is, and then having a laser focus and starting a family to achieve the American dream. And so to your point, Benny, I think we have to change the paradigm, change the conversation. And I will say we're doing that in this administration.
- [38:20]
Benny Johnson
Yeah, it'd really be nice to incentivize potentially generational turnover of houses to young people. One other very worrying trend is that the boomer generation is hoarding houses that the boomer generation owns on average of 2.8 homes per couple. So round up to three homes per couple. Well, whoa. I mean, that's crazy. We've never seen that before. By the ages of 70 and 80, our grandparents were passing on homes or estates or lands or deeds to the younger generation. And it'd be great to incentivize that. I would love to normalize in culture. I don't know how this happens, but I would love to normalize. Like giving your kid assistance on buying their home instead of a college education. I know that sounds crazy to some generation, but like, actually to the generations that just went through college and received worthless Degrees. It would have been a lot better to get some help with the down payment for my home. That's the biggest expense of my life. It will be forever the biggest expense of most people's lives, period. And I'd love to just make that. That used to be a culture that we had actually in America, right. Pre World War II. You, you know, families would pass on generational land and wealth and homes. I'd love to get back to that. I'd love to get back to, like, encouraging the older generation to establish that safekeep for the young, because, frankly, you know, housing appreciates at 3 to 4% per year. It's land. God's not making any more land. It's something that's forever valuable. And also, you know, you'll get grandkids faster, Right. If you're. If you're helping your kids get into a home. So just, you know, off the top of the dome.
- [40:06]
Scott Turner
Oh, I'm sorry. But that's funny that you said it, because I just had this conversation similar with an older gentleman and say, you know, what is the greatest investment, you know, especially for baby boomers? Do you continue to invest in stocks, you know, the stock market, bonds, things of this nature, Commodities? Or should we consider investing in our children and grandchildren when it comes to a home to help them with a down payment, to help them start their future in their first home to build their families? That's an investment to me, that you can't put a price on, because now you're blessing the next generation to build generational wealth, and then if they catch on to it properly, then their children and their grandchildren will be blessed because of this first investment from grandma and Granddad. So I actually like that. And, you know, it was just yesterday I was having that same conversation. I would love to see us get back to that, because to me, that's American. That is true America. To pass down generational wealth. And it doesn't have. It's not about the amount. It's just about the principal. Who am I investing in? Am I investing in my children and grandchildren? And even those that may not be in your immediate family, but those you see have tremendous potential and promise. Are we helping them to get on their feet? They're working hard. They're serving. How about helping them to get in their first home? And I think that we have enough private money in our country to do that.
- [41:47]
Benny Johnson
Yeah. You know why this doesn't happen often is the inheritance tax, which should be illegal, which is a total immorality, by the way. And you know, as they say in the Psalms, like, you know, a moral and good generation, like, passes on and protects the riches for the generation that comes after them. The inheritance tax is immoral, and I think it's totally evil, and it destroys the ability for families to do this unless you have some really great lawyers that can find some good loopholes. And so what's your take on the inheritance tax?
- [42:29]
Scott Turner
Well, you know, I think there's a lot of tax that we could talk about, but I don't know, if you had that much time on your show, maybe we could circle back on it. But I believe that, you know, taxing a family that's worked hard from generation to generation and to tax them from passing on that to their family, indeed, is immoral. And I think we need to not only look at that, but there's so many taxes in the tax code that I believe that we can shift and change in order to free up flexibility and to free up wealth for families in our country. So I'll be happy to talk to you about it. Maybe we have some more time on the next show.
- [43:06]
Benny Johnson
I don't prepare. I don't pretend to be the smartest guy. I went to community college and, you know, don't let me do your taxes, you'll go to jail, Mr. Secretary. But I, you know, I do see how it destroys homes and lives in places like Iowa, where I come from, where these people that own these large farms, they can't pass it on to their children because of inheritance taxes, because people can't pay that. And it's, it's too expensive and it destroys generational wealth. Actually, what about property taxes? That's a big question right now in the state of Florida trying to get rid of property taxes. Where do you stand on that?
- [43:42]
Scott Turner
Well, I live in Texas. We don't have a state tax in Texas, but we do have property taxes. And it's always a source of.
- [43:51]
Benny Johnson
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- [43:55]
Scott Turner
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Benny Johnson
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- [44:10]
Scott Turner
Contention. Every year when you get your property tax bill. And the problem that I have with it is that when people pay their homes off, they don't really 100% own the homes because every year you pay property taxes. And like you, obviously, I'm not a tax expert, but I do know that I have to pay property taxes every year and every year I'm not Happy about it. You know, I do obviously want to, and I do abide by the law of the land, as the Bible teaches us, but I'm not happy about it.
- [44:41]
Benny Johnson
So would you be, you know, would you be in favor of, you know, you could do a lot of good from your position, you know, sort of vision casting for property taxes? It does, you know, in principle to me, it does make a lot of sense that you don't actually own your home. You know, if I don't pay my property taxes, the government takes my house. So who actually owns my house? Clearly, I'm just. Even if I pay it all off, I'm still an indentured servant to the state. That seems, that seems unethical. It seems against ownership. It seems like I'm not actually owning anything.
- [45:13]
Scott Turner
Exactly. Yeah. And I have the same sentiment. Obviously at hud we don't deal with property taxes here at hud we deal with housing and disaster recovery and homelessness. But I think those conversations absolutely need to be had, you know, with people that are experts and that are like minded to see, you know, what can be done about that. But again, you know, that's, that's for a future conversation. But I'll be happy to have it and get experts in the room so I can also learn.
- [45:40]
Benny Johnson
That's right. A final question for you, Mr. Secretary. We're seeing right now raids, ICE raids in certain municipalities. And boy, it's solving a lot of the traffic problems, you know, a place like Charlotte. And it's also seems to be ameliorating quite a few problems when it comes to overcrowding in classrooms. And the more you extrapolate the bringing in of 30, 40, 50 million criminal aliens into our country, the more you can see that the downward pressure on supply and demand, really this is the ball game when it comes to high prices, whether it's at the grocery store, housing or rental. If you have 50 million people who don't belong here, who came here criminally, that are competing for those houses with you, it's going to totally offset the market. Things are going to get out of control, and they seem out of control here. How much would the problems of affordability in the housing market be solved if we were to deport all of the 20 million or so criminal aliens that are currently illegally in our nation?
- [46:49]
Scott Turner
Well, I think it would have an immediate impact if we deport all of the illegal aliens in our country when you have, as you said, millions of illegal aliens coming across our border. From a housing standpoint, it has stifled the housing Supply and caused affordability to skyrocket. Hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens living in government funded, HUD funded homes. I'll give you a stat. 59% of illegal alien families use one or more welfare programs costing us about $42 billion a year. Over half of the illegal alien families, almost 60% use one or more welfare programs costing the American taxpayer 4.42.42 billion dollars a year. And so affordability is out of hand. Housing supply is stifled because of this. But if you deport them now, you open up homes for the American people. And that's who we're supposed to serve, the American people and the American people only.
- [47:59]
Benny Johnson
So wait a second, so why do any HUD resources go to criminal aliens?
- [48:04]
Scott Turner
Well, during the Biden administration they turned a blind eye here at hud. Since we came in, Benny, since we took over HUD this January, we've done three things. One, we signed a data sharing agreement with the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Noem to make sure that those that were living in HUD funded housing were American citizens. Number two, we stopped FHA backed mortgages from going to illegal aliens during the Biden administration. They ignored it, they turned a blind eye to it. But we are no longer turning a blind eye to that. And illegal aliens can no longer get FHA backed mortgages, which we talked about before, how they have served over half a million first time homebuyers just since this past January is for the American people. And the third thing we've done is that we're mandating all public housing authorities to give us a comprehensive account and report of every person living in a section 8 or HUD funded house in every public housing authority in America.
- [49:06]
Benny Johnson
So that's happening right now. So you are ensuring that if you're going to get Section 8 funding from the US government, then you're not, that's not going to go to criminal alien. You, you have, you have certitude that that system is in place. Mr. Secretary.
- [49:20]
Scott Turner
Yes sir, we're doing it as we speak.
- [49:22]
Benny Johnson
All right, that's a wonderful thing to hear because really that's, I think that's so much of the problems that you have in this nation, whether it comes to affordability or just feeling safe in your street, wanting to get a home, wanting to get started with the American dream, overcrowding in classrooms. This is where it all comes from. And well, it'd be nice and to, to not have to fund it, frankly. Yeah, it'd be nice to not have to pay for it. I guess we could start there. Thank you so much for being on the program. You can follow the HUD secretary right here. His account at Scott Turner. He has 140,000 subscribers. He's somebody who is working day and night to try and solve the housing crisis. And we look forward to working closely with the secretary on some of these solutions. We'll be a champion for them. Mr. Secretary, thank you.
- [50:10]
Scott Turner
Thank you. Benny, you're the greatest.
- [50:12]
Benny Johnson
All right, man. That was an amazing conversation. I don't think I've ever had a better conversation with a cabinet secretary in my life. He touched on everything. How it is a moral imperative, how Christendom actually demands that we provide a future for our young kids and how that future is unlocked in this culture, in our culture. Maybe not in Italy, right, where young men live with their moms until they're 50, but in our culture through home ownership, property, land, the seizing of the American dream. It's beautiful. Paired beautifully with some new data from the administration. J.D. vance, native born citizens are driving all growth in America. Good focus back on the American jobs are going to American workers for the first time for a change. So obviously something that is going to be critical if J.D. vance runs for president and I personally believe that he will. Native born workers have had a massive surge in the economy. 2.5 million native born Americans gained employment while 1.3 million foreign born workers lost employment. 2.6 million native born Americans joined the workforce and 1.23 million foreign born workers left the workforce through deportations or otherwise. Here's JD Vance taking a victory lap.
- [51:46]
JD Vance
That we are seeing the job growth go to native born American citizens. And what happened under the Biden administration is to the extent there was any job growth at all, if you looked at the data, almost all of the net job creation in the United States under the Biden administration went to the foreign born. Now of course, some of those people are illegal immigrants to the United States. But that means that a lot of the job creation was actually going to illegal aliens who shouldn't have been in our country. The best thing that you can say about the Trump economy is that American jobs are going to American workers for a change. And that's the thing that I'm proudest about with these numbers.
- [52:20]
Benny Johnson
Right so now, ooh, man, I am the proudest, ladies and gentlemen, that we are also creating jobs for American workers at this company with our own ornaments. With our own. You're getting good at that timing, Claude. With our own special Christmas ornaments. I am proud to report to you, we have sold 25,000, 25,000 Christmas ornaments. $5 each. We make practically nothing is. We just want to spread Christmas cheer. It is made in America. Ryan, who is our craftsman here, he's also a veteran, told me this morning that he's hired 15 new people in order to fulfill all of the shipping obligations. And we are shipping them out, man. The truck is loaded and locked and ready for you to have a beautiful Christmas with our Christmas ornaments. Here is our new promo video. You can see how beautiful they look on the tree.
- [53:23]
Scott Turner
I love it.
- [53:24]
Benny Johnson
Klein looking great. Look at that. Come on, baby. So easy. Yes. And a reminder that all of these are made here in America. Non inflationary. 5 bucks. Same price they were last year. And this is the shop where they come from. There you go. And this is Ryan, our incredible craftsman and manufacture. This is how these ornaments get made, chipped and sent. And we are proud, ladies and gentlemen, to bring them to you. You can find them today@shop bennyjohnson.com Shop bennyjohnson.com okay. Make Christmas great again. I am making Christmas great again with attempting to fix my high blood pressure. As you know on this program I do have high blood pressure. I am often yelling and trying to calm myself down, not trying to lose my mind. The Epstein news cycle really did a number on me. But this is how I do it. 120Life. 120Life is a beautiful blend of five all natural ingredients that have been proven to lower your blood pressure all naturally. That's why thousands of doctors and medical professionals endorse this product. It's also good for diabetes. It's something that I drink with regularity when I can get my hands on a bottle. My kids really like to drink it as well. But you can get 20% off right now with the code Benny. Thanksgiving, Christmas or New year, the whole holiday season. Get 20% off the entire order at 120life.com code benny. This is how we are going to take back our nation. Being healthy. Go to 120Life. That's 120Life.com use my code BENNY for 20% off off. Try it risk free. You have nothing to lose but your high blood pressure. That's Benny for 20% off your order today. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I have such.
- [55:27]
Scott Turner
A.
- [55:30]
Benny Johnson
I have not. I have not. I've not been able to tell you everything that is about to happen because. Well, I have an NDA. So I'm going to do my best to sort of scoot around it here and tell you that we have massive announcement coming later today. On the topic of housing, on the topic of partnering with some of the strongest allies in the space in order to deliver on this promise the American people made by this administration, but also just frankly, that should be made by all Americans to the younger generation. It's something that again, I constantly hear about when I'm at college campuses. And so we have to do a shorter show today to scoot out and head across the state for this announcement. We will be going to Mar a Lago, in fact, our friends at America First Policy Institute. And stay tuned, it's going to be a blast. Also stay tuned for Donald Trump and Zorhan Mandami in the White House. That is going to be a cannot miss, cannot miss live. I'm very, very excited about it. I will be watching live along with you. A packed and crowded day. It's just that time of year, you know, it's just that season and once again, it is in fact that time of year, man. Which one is my favorite? I don't know. I got all I have. I'm partial to these two. I don't know. They're just such warm and happy memories. Trump at McDonald's and Trump inside of the garbage truck. When you ship, when you get one of these, I can tell you we have this giant truck loaded up. I don't know if we have the truck photo or not, but we have this massive truck loaded up. We're so proud of this. We are shipping out truckloads per day. Truckloads per day. Check this out. This is just one of the vans that left this morning. Truckloads per day heading out the door. How do we do it? Shopify, baby. Shopify helps us get these orders from a one click order for you on our website. Out the door, bing, right into your mailbox in time for the holiday season. Hundreds of ornaments per hour. Frankly, 25,000 ornaments so far. And it's not even Thanksgiving week yet. Boy, Shopify, we couldn't do it without them. Listen, here's what Shopify does for you. They help us with our website integration with our full shopping integration to make sure that our customers get what they want right away. They help us with social media and the description of the items and they help make our dreams come true. So turn your dreams into and give them the best shot of success with Shopify. It certainly has happened for us. Look at these beautiful ornaments. It's really, it's happening. Go to shopify.com benny shopify.com benny sign up today for $1 per month trial start selling today@shopify.com benny. All right, ladies and gentlemen, with that, our verse of the day and then we'll be off. Very quick sort of blistering turnaround show today. But it is what it is from Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in discipline and instruction in the Lord. Isn't that beautiful? Don't provoke your children to anger. Bring them up in discipline and instruction. That is exactly right. This is the approach that we should have when it comes to housing, when it comes to providing for our children. Like kids just don't know everything. We have to have patience. You have to have patience with these systems is actually set to us to ensure that there are on ramps for these kids in the American dream. That's what housing is. You want to make sure that you bring them up in discipline and instruction and not just yell at them. Right. There's just a lot of yelling going on. A lot of generational yelling going on. No, no. Let's all be adults, let's all be Christians and let's all remember that we're living in the single greatest country on earth. Country that has been blessed by God is a privilege to live here. I hope that you have a wonderful weekend again. We will be live for Trump and Zorhan Mandami.
- [59:49]
JD Vance
That'll be.
- [59:50]
Benny Johnson
That'll be. Can't miss TV and it's your boy Benny. See ya. Congratulations on your very first home. You will always remember your first house. The biggest ships in the sea all owned by by the oldest kings and a dying legacy media dill weeds soon will the Benny show come to mind us all from lives for fun Feed the gold and bring the gun we sail for number. Soon will the penny show come to mine the salt from lids for fun Leave the gold and bring the gun we sail for number one the biggest ships in the sea all owned by the oldest king Family Matters amplifies the loudest and the proudest political voices in the black community today.
- [61:06]
Scott Turner
What's up, guys?
- [61:06]
Benny Johnson
I'm C.J. pearson. We're many incredible perspectives here in the black community that you're going to hear from each and every week because faith matters, country matters, and family matters. This is exactly what the mainstream media was missing by not actually going to black churches, going to black barber shops, talking to the people at the forefront of this change in the community. Let me start here.
- [61:24]
Scott Turner
Family Matters with CJ Pearson each and every week.
- [61:26]
Benny Johnson
We'll see you here. Talk to you soon.
- [61:28]
Scott Turner
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