Currently the U.S. foreclosure crisis shows no sign of abating because while foreclosure filings fell last month, they still remain near a record high, according to a report released this week by real estate firm RealtyTrac.

In this video NewsHour Economics Correspondent Paul Solman talks to Alyssa Katz, who wrote a book on the history of the housing market in America, Our Lot: How Real Estate Came to Own Us.

Katz explains the long history of the housing bubble; the myth of home ownership encouraged by presidents from Hoover to George W. Bush; red lining; and the real consequences for some new home owners in devastated communities.

"It's a bastion of middle-class black homeownership, and a real sign, in a lot of ways, of the success of homeownership in helping families build wealth." Alyssa Katz, author

"FDR's new Federal Housing Administration literally drew red lines around declining neighborhoods to which it seemed unwise to lend. The effect was to shut minorities out of the FHA's then cutting-edge product, the 30-year mortgage. Banks honored the red lines as well into the late '70s. Then came the housing boom." Paul Solman, NewsHour correspondent

"They screwed everybody around here, everybody." Robustiano Reyes, homeowner

1. What is the difference between owning and renting a home?

2. What is a mortgage?

1. Antoinette Coffi-Ahibo says she was scammed by the system, do you agree? Explain your answer.

2. What is the role of the federal government now that so many people are in foreclosure? What would you do if you were President?

3. How can home foreclosure be avoided in the future?