AUSTIN—Despite rumblings to the contrary, the American dream of homeownership is not a fading relic from the nation’s Post World War II era. In fact, homeownership remains a key lever to elevate families from generational poverty to the middle class, according to two of the nation’s top leaders in the housing industry.

AUSTIN—Austin, a tech hub that has become one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, has grown wider, longer, taller, and denser. And there’s hope that it may become more closely knitted together via an upcoming massive transportation project that could bring more cohesion between affluent areas and traditionally underserved neighborhoods.

AUSTIN – The nation’s housing market may show a slight uptick this year, but for millions of Americans spanning the great gulf of home affordability will remain impossible, according to opening day speakers at the 2024 ULI Housing Opportunity Conference, which drew more than 500 attendees.

At a ULI Austin event, speakers said that government, nonprofit, and business initiatives are tackling Austin’s homelessness predicament by, among other things, proposing temporary structures known as Sprung shelters and seeking to convert motels into longer-term housing.

Austin, Texas, sits at the pinnacle of the U.S. commercial real estate sector right now, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate^® 2020. But recent economic wins like the planned $1 billion campus for Apple and the new headquarters of the U.S. Army’s modernization initiative should keep the city standing tall for years to come, said panelists speaking at a ULI Austin event in October.

Amid rising venue rents, housing affordability woes, and ever-present construction cranes in Austin, local music venues—and, therefore, local musicians—fear extinction.