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Austin has been on a building boom since it started becoming a tech hub. The Texas city has seen its skyline shift and its fortunes grow. Major tech firms like Apple and Amazon have established key offices, and in the 2010s alone, the city grew 21%, adding 171,000 residents. It now has more than 974,000, the 10th largest in the country. Builders have raced to erect housing for these new arrivals; Austin has seen a boom in market rate apartments in recent yearsso much that it led rents to decrease after years of big jumps. And in recent years, according to a new report, part of that building boom has included affordable housing, including permanent housing for the formerly unhoused, low-cost studio units, and even housing for teachers. Austins affordable housing construction pipeline outpaces all other U.S. cities, according to research from Yardi Matrix, a real estate data source. In 2024, the city delivered 4,605 affordable unitsdefined as properties that agree to limit rents as a condition of a tax credit or subsidy. That’s double the rate in 2023. The research shows Austin will also deliver the most affordable units this year, 3,452more than LAs 2,752, despite the California city having more than four times as many people. And Austin will continue to lead, with the forecast of units in the pipeline through 2027 showing Austin with 9,528, compared to Seattles 6,289. [Chart: Yardi Matrix] We want to ensure that the population that made Austin what Austin is can stay in Austin, said James May, Housing and Community Development Officer for the City of Austin Housing Department. Its also worth mentioning that Austins changing demographics are playing a large role in the housing market. As the city continues to morph from a capital and college town to a tech and healthcare nexus, wealth and median income have risen. A recent city memo noted that the citys housing market had dramatically changed since it laid out its housing plan in the mid 2010smedian home sale price has risen by 58%, and rents went from an average of $1,350 in 2017 to a peak of $1,709 in 2022so Austin needs to recalibrate its strategy and focus more on deeply affordable units. Austin used to be a city of musicians and artists, and now income and rent are far higher than what it was 10 years ago, said Heather Way, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin who specializes in housing law. [Chart: Yardi Matrix] May credited the growth in affordable housing in Austin to three factors. First, was community: Multiple providers including the city, county, housing authority, and private builders have been looking to invest in new housing, with private developers investing in significant new construction using the citys density-bonus program. The second was money. A series of local bonds for affordable housing raised significant funds for new construction, including a 2022 bond for $350 million, which helped fund new affordable units. In addition, the construction of new transit lines included $300 million in anti-displacement funds that also helped pay for new buildings. May said the city recently purchased a 100-acre property formerly owned by the Top Deal electronic company that it plans to use for mixed-income development, which will include affordable housing. And finally, the third pillar was regulatory reform. The city council has passed many initiatives in recent years to increase density and make it easier to build: transit-oriented development rules allowed for higher buildings near bus and train lines, Affordability Unlocked allowed housing development on land zoned for commercial projects, and the HOME Initiative shrunk the required lot size for homes and made it legal to build multiple units on lots zoned for single-family homes. But even with that surge, its still not enough. Despite Austins recent lead, the construction rate still lags well behind whats actually needed to provide sufficient access to affordable housing: tens of thousands of new units would be needed to adequately meet the demand. A record-breaking number of evictions in the surrounding county last year attest to the pressure renters feel making ends meet. And while new supply is definitely a step in the right direction, what isnt being built is deeply affordable housing. Defined as housing that can support those making around 30% of the median income; in 2023, just 63 such units were built, even though thi group makes up 17% of the citys population. Creating enough affordable units, and building more for those with extremely low incomes, will be even more challenging due to the changing landscape for construction. Stubbornly high interest rates will make getting financing more difficult. Tariffs will make materials more expensive. And the Trump administration’s actions against HUD, including threats to withhold funding from sanctuary cities like Austin, might end vital federal support. Its going to be a tough market, we wont see the entire pipeline go all the way through, May said. Austins boost in housing production is a start. But its sadly far from finished.
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Skywatchers, you’re in for a treat. You’re going to want to look up into the night late Monday, May 5 into the early hours of Tuesday, May 6, to see the debris of Halleys comet as it lights up the sky with a meteor shower called the Eta Aquarids. Here’s everything you need to know about the Eta Aquarids and the chance to see debris from Halley’s comet in 2025. What are Halleys comet and the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, anyway? While Halley’s comet itself only travels around the sun every 75 or so years, each time it returns to the inner solar system, it sprays debris (ice and rock) into space, which results in two meteor showers each year: the Eta Aquarids in May, and the Orionids in October, creating what we know as shooting stars. (Halley’s comet was last seen in 1986, and won’t come around again until 2061.) When comets pass by the sun, the dust they emit eventually creates a dusty trail around their orbits. Then, when Earth passes through these trails, they interact with our atmosphere, creating those dazzling shows of light in the sky. The Eta Aquarids peak early in the month of May, and are known for their speed; they travel at about 40.7 miles per second into Earth’s atmosphere, according to NASA. That’s important, because fast meteors can leave glowing incandescent “trains” of debris, which last for several seconds to minutes. During the peak of the Eta Aquarids, viewers can see up to 50 meteors each hour, depending on visibility. What’s the best time to see the Eta Aquarids meteor shower in 2025? Peak viewing is this Monday night, May 5 into Tuesday morning, May 6 in the predawn hours, according to NASA’s Bill Cooke, who told the AP that visibility will likely be affected by the moon, which will be two-thirds full. The good news: viewing opportunities will last through the month until May 28. You can view the Eta Aquarids in both the northern and southern hemispheres, but the southern hemisphere is preferable. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, viewers can expect to see about 10 meteors an hour, depending on your latitude and conditions that night. Expect to see “Earthgrazers,” which are long meteors “that appear to skim the surface of the Earth at the horizon,” per NASA. NASA viewing tips for the Eta Aquarids meteor shower Our friends at NASA offer these tips: Find a viewing spot away from city or street lights. Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east. You may want to bring a blanket or a lounge chair. Look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors. Be patient. The show will last until dawn, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse.
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Most F1 cars can reach speeds of well over 200 mph, but the newest automobiles in the F1 stable go much much slow. Built from 400,000 Lego pieces, the life-size Lego cars can drive 12 mphnot bad for a bunch of plastic bricks. To mark the start of a multiyear partnership, the Danish toy maker created 10 drivable, full-scale Formula 1 cars that debuted at the Miami Grand Prix. The racing series 20 competitors, including speed demons Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, drove the Lego cars at Sundays prerace Drivers Parade for millions of fans watching from the grandstands and on television. [Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for LEGO Group] The big build cars took Lego builders a collective 22,000 hours over eight months to assemble the four million pieces. It’s Legos most challenging project by size and scale, according to Chief Marketing Officer Julia Goldin. The cars showcase each teams distinctive livery but share the cockpit, chassis, and components necessary to cover the circuits three-mile inaugural lap. We each want to push the art of impossible, to push the boundaries, Goldin told Fast Company in an interview on Friday at the trackside Lego Garage. Drivable, life-size Legos Lego has made a mark with life-size, or larger-than-life, public art installations at institutions from New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport to the Volvo Museum in Sweden. But the Formula 1 cars boast a novel distinction, says Marcel ©»astný, the projects lead engineer: Theyre ready for the race track. The nearly 1:1 scale models reach about 12 mph using automotive parts contained within the structure and authentic Pirelli tires. They herald Legos new Speed Champions product line based on race cars from Ferrari, McLaren, and other teams, with accessories from driver minifigures in full racing gear to replacement hub caps. [Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for LEGO Group] Of course, they differ from actual Formula 1 cars in two key ways: performance and design. A modern F1 car uses a 1.6-liter V6 turbo engine and two electric motors to produce around 1,000 horsepower and travel upwards of 200 mph. And unlike the official single-seat race cars, Legos design fits two people. Lego created the dual cockpit specifically in order to accommodate each teams driver pairs during the parade. The beginning of the concept was really fitting two people inside, and then we built the rest of the car around the cockpit, says Jonathan Jurion, the projects senior designer. [Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for LEGO Group] But making room for two people inside the car wasnt the projects only challenge. Since the competitors didnt get a test run ahead of the public debut, Lego also had to create adjustable seats and pedals within the cockpit to accommodate the drivers heights. The projects engineering manager specialist Martin ©mida says his team used animation runs and personal measurements to ensure a fit on race day. And then there was the compressed timeline, with the project kicking off last August. We did 10 cars in the amount of time it would normally take to do one car, Jurion says. We didn’t want to cut any corners, so we had to think out of the box how to streamline the process while creating a custom design for each one. From CAD to hand-built Despite a frenetic start off the line, the project began with the same computer-aided design exercise used by the 400-plus Lego products launched each year. We model the cars first in the computer because it’s a huge amount of bricks, Jurion says. We have specialists who work on the shapes and forms, and others who work on the design of the detailing and logos. The design then shuffles through the pipeline, to technical engineers and manufacturing engineers who make sure that we can build these, because it’s not really an easy task, he adds. Designers and engineers used foam mockups to collaborate on a layout that hid the drivetrain, which includes a motor and a 105 amp-hour battery. (Lego cut its teeth last year on a full-scale McLaren P1 that Lando Norris took for a spin on Englands Silverstone Circuit. But instead of traditional Lego bricks, that car used bolts, gears and pins from Legos advanced Technic system.) We have special builders who really know how to build these huge builds, and they take the building instructions from the manufacturing engineers and then build them, kind of layer by layer, like we would build a house, Jurion adds. The cars were assembled by hand at Legos factory in the Czech Republic but glued together for their Formula 1 debut. All the bricks you can see are off-the-shelf bricks, Jurion says. Potentially, if anyone has enough bricks, they could build them at home. Gluing the bricks together is obviously something that we don’t want our fans to do in real life, but we had to do it so that we keep the cars together, he added. We don’t want to lose any bricks on track. [Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for LEGO Group] Multiyear growth Lego and Formula 1 alike have long had loyal fans willing to shell out top dollar for the experience, but both brands have surged in popularityespecially among women, children and families, according to Goldinsince the COVID-19 pandemic. A new audience turned, or returned, to Lego sets during lockdown, boosted by the LegoMasters reality television series, while Netflixs Drive to Survive, now filming its eighth season, has brought millions of new fans to motorsports. [Photo: Hector Vivas/Getty Images for LEGO Group] Data show that F1 has seen a particular surge in growth among children between ages 8 and 12. Lego continues to grow, as well, slated to begin construction on its first U.S. factory, a $1 billion factory outside Richmond, Virginia, in mid-2027. Goldin declined to provide the total investment figure for the Formula 1 partnership but says theres more to come. This sets the bar high, but we definitely dont think of this as a one-off.
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