After the Fact

Stat: 4 million to 7 million: The United States has a shortage of 4 million to 7 million homes.  Story: For many Indigenous communities, the concept of land or home ownership can stand in opposition to their cultures—which often place more emphasis on land stewardship. But just like communities across the country, on and off the reservation, housing availability and affordability is a growing problem. In this episode, Jody Cahoon Perez, now the executive director of the Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority, shares how she became a homeowner on the Flathead Reservation in Montana. And the “After the Fact” team dissects some creative solutions that could help cities address housing disparities, like restrictive zoning and inventory near city centers.

Stat: 41%: The share of U.S. adults who have some form of health care debt.  Story: Millions of Americans are struggling with debt, from credit card bills to unexpected medical expenses. And many face a tough choice between paying off debt or covering basic needs such as rent, food, and health care. But what happens when these debts go unpaid?  In this episode, Lester Bird of The Pew Charitable Trusts explains how it’s possible for consumers with debt to end up in civil court, facing a lawsuit, or experience serious consequences such as wage garnishment. He discusses how these cases make up a large portion of court dockets. Noam Levey of KFF Health News shares how medical debt cases can worsen the economic conditions of individuals and communities. And Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison discusses how policymakers in his state are helping to ease the burden of medical debt on his constituents through landmark reforms. 

Stat: 1 foot: the amount the sea level rose in the Chesapeake Bay in the last century, twice as fast as the global average. Story: Climate change is driving sea-level rise and worsening coastal flooding across the globe. And in many coastal communities, the rising waters are changing local environments and the places people call home. For generations, the Nause-Waiwash people have raised families, worked, and practiced traditions like muskrat trapping in the marshlands of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. In this episode, Nause-Waiwash Chief Donna “Wolf Mother” Abbott takes us through her ancestral lands and guides us through muskrat hunting in the marsh. She discusses how her Tribe’s lands are disappearing and what she’s doing to protect her community’s histories and traditions.  

The rise of deepfakes—realistic fake videos made with artificial intelligence software—is making it even more difficult to sort fact from fiction.  When this episode originally aired in 2019, 57% of social media news consumers said they expected what they see there to be largely inaccurate. And the public continues to be wary about changes in the digital landscape. In 2023, Pew Research Center found that 52% of U.S. adults said they are more concerned than excited about AI in their everyday lives. In this episode, digital forensics expert Hany Farid—then at Dartmouth University, and now at the University of California, Berkeley—shares how he advises governments and the media on how to meet this growing threat. And he considers the implications for people and societies when we can’t necessarily believe what we see.